The morning I was reading about the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. I grappled with the portrayal of God as one who obstructs. It’s easy for me to become angry when it seems God is getting in the way of whatever new tower I’m trying to build. Yet He knows my motives, He knows the dangers to me. Finally, I wrote this prayer in the margin of my Bible:

Lord, because I trust Your love, when I read about You confounding the plans of people, I believe it was to protect them from new dangers and self-destruction. Help me have that faith in my life when my personal plans are confounded.

But there was a second lesson for me from this brief account. My heart has been aching at the conflict in our culture, between nations, between individuals, within families. Truly we are confused and “won’t be able to understand each other” (verse 7) apart from God’s grace. So I added this prayer:

Heavenly Father, help people “speak the same language” and relate in love. Send your Spirit to help us all understand each other in each place there is conflict.

How about you? Have you ever seen God obstruct your path, and later realized it was a good thing that He did? Or have you see Him heal a conflict?

Sharon