Genesis 11:4-9 (NIVUK)
4 Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ 8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world…
I had to have my ears syringed once. The difference it made to what I could hear and what it sounded it like was startling! I had no idea my hearing had been so badly affected. Dzifa explored on Sunday how God’s image is expressed in our thinking and speech, but as described here in Genesis 9, this has been confused because of our selfishness. This does not just affect our thoughts and our speech, but also our listening, our ability to listen carefully to others because we are too concerned with our own business, what we’re going to say, and how others might see us. Perhaps, sometimes, we need our ‘spiritual’ ears syringing…
Father, forgive my inability and reluctance to listen to others and to you. Clear my ears so I may listen properly, and my mind so that I would do so.
Photo by Maxim Kotov on Unsplash
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