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ONE LANGUAGE, ONE SPEECH (GENESIS 11:1-8) LENT DAY 6

REFLECTION
The theme for our reflection is “one language, one speech” One language, one speech” connotes a sense of mutual understanding and unity. We shall reflect on the fact that one language, one speech without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God leads to misguidance and division.

Beloved in the Lord without the counsellor or the Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God, the church or believers will be misguided and divided through human-centred or self-glorifying ambitions. Our human nature is constantly opposed to the Spirit of God and the will of God therefore, it is important for every believer and for that matter the church to completely rely on the Holy Spirit as our counsellor to lead us to do God’s will. We shall recall that in Genesis 1:27-28 “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28). In other words it was the will of God for humanity to ” be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Contrary to God’s will, the people at Shinar by the power of one language, one speech and unity of purpose decided that “… let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4). The decision was misguided and was against God’s Word and plan for humanity to “be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth”. It is for this reason that “the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:6-9).

Dear friend in Christ, comparatively, we realise that like the people of Shinar, all the disciples and the followers of Jesus spoke the same native language, but the difference between the Shinar and the Jerusalem gatherings is that the people at Shinar gathered for their own purpose and ambition but the disciples and the followers of Jesus gathered according to the will of God and were waiting for the empowerment and guidance of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus Christ. It is important to note that the people of Shinar began to speak in different languages and there was confusion among them but when the same Holy Spirit caused the followers of Christ who were all Jews or one language speakers to speak in different languages, they delivered the same message in unity about the mighty works of God to the hearing of people from different ethnic and language backgrounds. Indeed “…they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:7-12). Beloved in the Lord, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14), surely, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

Peter reminded them that, what had happened was the fulfilment of Prophesy according to Prophet Joel in Joel 2:28-32, the Holy Spirit will be poured upon the people of God and He will guide and Counsel them through prophesy, vision and dreams. Dear friends in the Lord, a church may be dominated by a predominant ethnic group or people who speak one language, but if they do not rely on the Holy Spirit as their counsellor and yearn to do the will of God, the church will be misguided and divided. The church, the family or wherever a gathering of believers rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and are determined to follow the will of God, there is spiritual guidance, progress and unity of purpose to glorify God through the core mandate of winning souls for Christ and living a transformed life. Paul greatly admonished us when he said “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:3-6). The Church does not need one human language or speech to grow, the Church needs the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church and the centrality of the Word of God to stay united and work together for the growth of the Church and the expansion of the King of God. May we allow the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to guide the Church and our individual lives during the Lent season and beyond.

In summary, we have reflected on the theme, “One language, one speech. We have discovered that one language, one speech without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God leads to misguidance and division. In other words, having one language and one speech is not a guarantee of success and church growth, but being led by the Holy Spirit and remaining faithful to the Word of God by doing His will would certainly bring about growth, development and success in all endeavours of the Church regardless of the challenges.

PRAYER
Holy Spirit, be the source of our unity so that in all things we shall maintain the unity of the body of Christ even as we do God’s will and glorify His name.