Understanding Man’s Capacity Through the Tower of Babel
You see that photo up there? That was me in 2023, at almost every corner in China. I mean, I’d been to China multiple times before, but not these cities; I kept pausing, gazing, taking pictures, trying to hold myself together so I don’t make it obvious that many of the things I was seeing were very strange to me. I had never been to a place where every square meter reeked of innovation and possibilities.
Not gonna lie, it was a lot to take in, and I was overwhelmed. You know that feeling that weakens you both mentally and emotionally. I was so drained that by the time I stepped into my hotel room, I fell to the ground. My knees literally gave in to the weight of all the emotions I was feeling. If you’ve ever been slain under the anointing before you’d understand this uncontrollable gravitational pull I’m talking about 😀. Honestly, I didn’t plan to worship in that moment, but I guess that was the only way my soul knew to express itself. I must have knelt there praying and worshipping for at least thirty minutes.
Throughout that week, I had been exposed to a level of advancement that stretched my mind – from the beauty and architecture of Shanghai, to the technology built by the Alibaba Group, and the cutting-edge innovation of Hangzhou.
Shanghai? The skyline spoke architectural prowess, almost like each high-rise building was trying to outdo the other in design. Yet somehow, it all felt intentional, like every structure knew its place and complemented the next. And then the bridges… oh my goodness. From my room on the 30th floor, they looked like an artistic web of intersections and loops, like a living system. Seriously, who designs these things? Like how do they even …breathe Gbemi, breathe 🧘🏽♀️
Then the Alibaba Group Campus in Hangzhou. You know I used to think e-commerce was all there was to them. Chile… the website you and I know is just one out of many mind-blowing things this company does. One of them is their cloud technology. The way they were using it to power businesses around the world- handling data, transactions, logistics… it was brilliant.
And then I stayed in Alibaba’s hotel – FlyZoo Hotel. Let me ask you, has a robot ever delivered your food to your room before? As in, it came up the lift, rolled right to my hallway, stopped at my door, and somehow rang the bell. I mean, maybe you’ve seen this before, but to me, Ondo babe in one of the biggest digital economy cities in the world, it felt like witchcraft!
So do you now understand why I said I was overwhelmed with emotions? Right there while I knelt on the floor, it felt like God lifted a veil from my eyes, and for the first time, I saw just how much power He has placed in man. I was in awe, but I was also afraid. You’ll understand why I was afraid by the time you read the last statement I made in this post.
I was in awe because I could see that truly man is capable of incredible inventions. God gave us this canvas called earth and He also gave us the tools to shape it, replenish it and to multiply what He started. Guys guuuuyyys do you get what I’m saying?! I implore you to make it a point of duty to travel to countries or places where advanced thinking and innovation are on display. Not for tourism alone, but for perspective, because sometimes God expands your vision not just through revelation, but through exposure. Exposure shows you what is possible, and that was what that trip to Shanghai and Hangzhou gave me – the perspective I needed for my next level as a person and as an entrepreneur.
Brings me to the story of the Tower of Babel, and I can see now why God “panicked”. He stopped the building project because He knew that he has put something in man that gives him the ability to achieve whatever he proposes in his heart to do.
“Nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” Genesis 11:6
Let me put it this way, imagine you’re spending a quiet Sunday afternoon with your three and five year old kids and they suddenly tell you they’re about to push the 8-tonne truck parked along the road, and they actually start trying. What would you do?
Would you stand there and laugh because you know it’s impossible?
Or would you run to stop them because somehow, you know they might actually pull it off?
Brethren, you don’t fear what is impossible.
If it was truly impossible for the men to build that tower, why should God intervene at all?
In Mikayla’s voice “take a minute, take it in”!
You see, design, creation, problem solving have always been God’s plan for human life, it’s literally the only way we can replenish the earth. He told Adam in Genesis 2:15, “to work it and take care of it”. This is a stewardship role which includes caring and making better. God expects us to create. Better still, He expects us to cocreate with Him.
Notice how God in stopping the building project did not take away their intelligence. He didn’t reduce their creativity, neither did He make them incapable of building. Instead, He introduced a communication problem. You know what this means? Man’s ability to think, create, and build is activated in alignment – alignment with God and with one another.
1 Corinthians 2:9-12 Eye has not seen … the things which God has prepared for those who love him … Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God… Now me have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
This is ALIGNMENT.
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
This is ALIGNMENT
Deep sigh … I’ll end with this: The power to create is not a gift given specially to a particular group of people. It is available to all men, believers and unbelievers alike. Innovation flows in the direction of those who dare to dream and act. Many times we ask, “Lagbaja is an unbeliever, how come he is so successful at what he does?” The answer is simple, again he dared to dream, he dared to believe, and he dared to do something about it. God is no respecter of persons, the power to make wealth (wealth is a relative term) is available to anyone who activates it, period. You have to stop waiting for someone to come save you, you must start saving yourself with that which you already have. There is a resource within or around you that you can start with. Just start, and as you act, God will send help.
At the end of the day, like Psalms 82:6 says “Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. You can think creatively and strategically, you can accomplish anything you want … But God forbid that we die like mere men, and join the crowd in the cemetery buried with unfulfilled potential, unwritten books, unsung songs, and unstarted businesses.
