James 4:1-10 CSB
What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don't they come from your passions that wage war within you? [2] You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. [3] You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. [4] You adulterous people! Don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. [5] Or do you think it's without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely? [6] But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. [7] Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Genesis 11:1-4 CSB
The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. [2] As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3] They said to each other, "Come, let's make oven-fired bricks." (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) [4] And they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let's make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth."
Humbly Submitting
In life, many of us try to survive entirely on our own power and the power of those around us. We instinctively form communities for protection, strength, and help for basic survival. These human networks are all necessary and good; they bring a form of safety and fellowship with others that we genuinely need. However, a dangerous shift happens when we let our selfish behaviors take over, effectively making ourselves or our society into God. Tyranny, whether in a nation or in our own hearts, absolutely requires people to view the state or the self as the ultimate authority. This self-reliance and making human systems above God brings about the severe internal problems and brokenness that all human societies eventually experience.
This is the exact lesson of the Tower of Babel. The building of the monument to Heaven so that people would not be scattered upon the face of the earth was not wrong in itself. Rather, the sin lay in the heart of the community speaking in one voice, saying, “Let us build a city for ourselves and make for ourselves a name.” This was an early form of collective humanism—a deliberate attempt to establish a memorial and a testimony to the raw power of human society independent of the Creator.
When I was younger, I often had a hard time understanding the Tower of Babel story. But as I got older and studied history, I saw how God was working, and is still working, in the hearts of all people to draw them back to Him. Imagine the horror if a tyrannical empire, like Hitler and the Third Reich, had successfully taken control of the entire world. Certain classes of people were systematically exterminated or made into slaves, while those born with physical defects were sent to special hospitals to be euthanized just to keep the gene pool strong and pure in the countries that they did control. Every dark inclination of the strongest members of that community would have been put into play without check.
Babel was the first attempt at that kind of total, unified human tyranny. By confusing the human language and creating distinct nations, God intentionally developed safe communities so that we could seek Him and find Him. He created a geographic and cultural buffer to fight against absolute tyranny through those who stood for truth.
Unfortunately, the very same thing that happened at the Tower of Babel happens inside our own private lives. We naturally want to glorify who we are and make a name for ourselves, many times over the well-being of others. Selfish pride steps in and takes total control over our actions. If we examine ourselves honestly, we see that this pride causes the majority of the hurts and deep structural problems in our lives and in society as a whole. James outlines this internal battlefield plainly:
“What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
Thankfully, there is a clear way out of the mess we make through our selfish behavior. There is a way to quiet the halting mistakes of past deeds that constantly run through our minds, and that is to humbly come to God. Jesus is recorded saying in John chapter 6, “Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.”
We have a firm promise that if we come to our loving Father in true humility, denying the self-will that runs rampant in our minds and submitting fully to His will, we will be accepted. God will come to us, wrap His arms around us as a loving Father, and quiet our sobs of sorrow over our past rebellion.
It is a profound spiritual paradox: it is precisely through total defeat—admitting that we are completely powerless on our own and desperately need help—that we find our true strength and lasting freedom. Our Father will cause us to stand when we cannot stand on our own.
But how can God completely forgive our broken past? Our past was fully paid for by His Son. Because of the cross, we are set free from the weight of our past actions so that we might live in the light and serve the King of Heaven.
Reflection Questions
- In what ways have you been trying to build your own “Tower of Babel” lately, relying on your own strength to make a name for yourself rather than submitting to God’s plan?
- James notes that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. What is one specific area of your life where you need to admit total powerlessness and stop fighting against His will?
- Think about the internal “wars and fights” you experience. How does capturing your selfish desires and turning to the Lord in prayer change the way you handle those frustrations?
Prayer
Father,
We confess that it is so easy to fall into the trap of self-reliance, trying to survive this world on our own power and pride. Forgive us for the times we have tried to make a name for ourselves, ignoring Your will and hurting those around us in the process. Thank You for the beautiful paradox of the Gospel—that when we admit our total defeat and powerlessness, You meet us with a greater grace. Lord, quiet the thoughts of our past mistakes and rebellion. Wrap Your loving arms around us, remove our sorrow, and give us the strength to stand. We surrender our pride to You today and ask that You would truly be the Lord of All in our hearts. We thank You that our past is completely paid for by the precious blood of Your Son, Jesus. Help us to walk in true freedom as we serve the King of Heaven. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
