1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called 1Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
What was the sin that the people of Babel had committed? Was it wanting to reach heaven? Was it wanting to see God? I would hope not. Rather, it was wanting to be like God. They didn’t want to build a tower to heaven to fellowship with God. They wanted to build a tower to be on the same level as God. They had become prideful (and possibly incited by the rebellious Nimrod), and decided the only way to properly express how great they were was to build a tower and ascend to heaven. God didn’t create us to compete with Him, we were created to have fellowship with Him. However, when we get our eyes stuck on ourselves and how much we’ve accomplished, pride kicks in and makes us do some pretty foolish things. Keep your eyes focused on God, and you won’t waste your time building monuments to your success. You’ll be too busy building the Kingdom of God.