Genesis 11 — Thoughts

Whas What Happened at Babel a “Severe Mercy”?

I wonder if you've ever heard the phrase "a severe mercy." I first encountered the idea in Sheldon Vanauken’s book by that name when I read it in high school.

In the book, Vanauken had allowed something in his life to become an idol, and God took that idol away from Vanauken in a painful way. As Vanauken came to terms with his loss, his friend C.S. Lewis wrote to him.

Lewis explained that, eventually, Vanauken would have had to choose between his idol or his faith. But the loss he suffered had saved him from making that choice. It was painful, but that pain preserved him. As Lewis wrote, it was "a severe mercy."

This concept has haunted me ever since I read Vanauken’s book. Does God allow painful things to occur in order to spare us from even more painful things later?

I think we see an example of this in the Tower of Babel.

When God saw the people building the tower, His main concern was that "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." So God confused their language and ruined their project.

Was God withholding from humanity as a show of His power? Was He trying to stifle their potential in order to keep them in line? No.

Remember what the world was like before the Flood: "Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time." God already knew the kind of evil we would subject the world to if we could. If nothing was impossible for us, no evil would be impossible for us either.

God cared too much about humanity to let us sink so low. So He spared us from that possibility by confusing our language. I hate to think what we would have become if He hadn't.

It was harsh, but it was "a severe mercy.”

(Originally written May 30, 2020)