WEAK TOWER...STRONG TOWER

Greetings friends. Back in the mid-eighties...One of my favorite movies was BACK TO THE FUTURE. The soundtrack had songs by various artists including HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS. Brenda and I went to Middle Tennessee State University to see Huey Lewis and the New during their SPORTS (name of an album) tour. It has to be one of the BEST concerts I have ever been too...and I've seen a lot of concerts. During that time there was a horn section known as THE TOWER OF POWER. They were a 10 member band out of Oakland California...who added the funk to the rock.

Seven years ago...today...there was an attack...not only on the TWIN TOWERS..
but also an attack on the economic, political, emotional, security of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. From the beginning of time...TOWERS have been symbols of STRENGTH, POWER, and points of REACHING UPWARD TO THE HEAVENS.

Genesis 10 reports that Nimrod (a mighty hunter before the Lord)...became a mighty one on earth. Babel was a part of the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom. (Genesis 10:8-10). At this time in the point of history on the time-space continuum...the whole earth used the SAME LANGUAGE...and the SAME WORDS. (Genesis 11:1) One of the things that they spoke to each other using this common communication...was "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." (Genesis 11:2) They used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. (Genesis 11:3) NOTE: It is just like the world to use substitutes for the real deal. We do the same thing today with our substitute of religion for relationship with God.

They continued on with their REASONING..."Come, let us build FOR OURSELVES a CITY...and a TOWER whose top will REACH INTO HEAVEN." (Genesis 11:4) The reason for making a city and tower for themselves was..."And let us make for OURSELVES a NAME...lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:4). On the surface this looks like a reasonable plan...BUT...God saw it differently.

"And the Lord came down to see the CITY and the TOWER...which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said...Behold, they are ONE PEOPLE...and they ALL HAVE ...the SAME LANGUAGE." (Genesis 11:5-6) Again...on the surface...it seems like a good thing to all be ONE...as the song says..."we are the world...we are the people..." We get warm fuzzies...as we link our hands across the world. But again... God saw beyond the immediate thing. "And this is what they began to do, and now NOTHING which they PURPOSE TO DO WILL be IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEM. (Genesis 11:6)

At this point...the God who is NOT the author of CONFUSION but of PEACE (I Corinthians 14:33)...came down and begin to cause CONFUSION and UNREST. "Come, let Us go down and there CONFUSE their LANGUAGE...that they MAY NOT UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER'S SPEECH. (Genesis 11:7). That was the LORD'S PLAN...and then He carried it out. "So the Lord SCATTERED them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth...and they STOPPED BUILDING the city (their plan). Therefore (cause and effect)...it's name was called BABEL...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." (Genesis 11:8-10) NOTE: As a Speech-Language Pathologist...I find this account fascinating.

TOWERS...have always been symbolic of points of STRENGTH. Strong means: strength in various applications (force, security, majesty, praise)--boldness, loud,might, power, strength, strong. This is from a root word that means to be stout, harden, impudent, prevail, strengthen (self), be strong. The tower is a point of height/size...a castle.

I remember driving through Atlanta once...and a friend and myself were marveling about the magnificence and beauty of the buildings of Atlanta at night. Before I knew it...I heard myself uttering..."Yes...it is a real monument to man." These towers...building...cathedrals...monuments, ARE wonderful architect wonders...some for sure are built unto the Lord...and others for sure...monuments to humanity. Our problem is when we focus so much on the wonderment of man/woman and his/her intellect...we lose view of how our human towers will crumble. When the enemy strikes...our hand made towers will fall...and the things that they represents...whether it is pride, or economics, or security...the will fall. WHAT CAN WE DO as our world CRUMBLES AROUND US? I'm glad you asked.

"The NAME OF THE LORD IS A STRONG TOWER...the righteous RUN into it (the name of the Lord)...and is SAFE/SET ON HIGH." (Proverbs 18:10)

We usually read that ONE verse...and flip on to the next promise. The next 2 verses really are companion to verse 10.

"A rich man's WEALTH is his STRONG CITY...and like a HIGH WALL in his own IMAGINATION. Before DESTRUCTION the heart of man is haughty...but HUMILITY goes before HONOR." (Proverbs 18:11-12)


As the TOWERS GO DOWN...there needs to be something to be RAISED UP...for our SAVING. In the Old Testament...when the Wilderness Children were COMPLAINING against God and Moses...the cause and effect of the COMPLAINING was fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people...so that many people of Israel died. (Numbers 21:1-7) The solution for SALVATION was...to make a fiery serpent, and set it on STANDARD...and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten...when he LOOKS at it...HE SHALL LIVE. (Numbers 21:8-9)

Fast forward to Jesus. "And as Moses LIFTED UP the serpent in the wilderness...even so...must THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP...that whosoever BELIEVES may in Him have ETERNAL LIFE. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever BELIEVES in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:15,16)

Mankind...LIFTS UP TOWERS...as symbols of who/what they trust in...and they crumble (due to decay)...get destroyed (by enemies with airplanes)...or get scattered (by God)....BUT when JESUS IS LIFTED UP...instead of our TOWERS...we have life.

I guess on this anniversary of the destruction of the TWIN TOWERS...the question that I am asking myself....who or what am I putting my trust in? Do I trust in nationalism...economics...political manipulations...world events...oil prices...humanism with a fallen humanity deciding what is right or wrong...OR...am I gazing upon the CROSS OF JESUS? Is the TOWER...that I am running into...the NAME OF THE LORD...A STRONG TOWER? Is my tower like a WAFFLE HOUSE hashbrown order...scattered, smothered, covered, etc?

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY!!!!

I love America. I am blessed to be born in the United States of America...but as we STAND AGAINST TERRORISM...I am first going to run into the STRONG TOWER...and stand against schemes of the devil.

Love and TOWER OF POWER kisses
Rodney "Gazing at the Cross" Boyd