Where Is God in Chaos and Confusion?

We are all walking on stepping stones laid down by others. Long before us, people wrestled with the same questions we face today—questions about fear, ambition, safety, and God’s presence in a confusing world. In our Stepping Stones sermon series, we begin by asking a timeless question from the story of the Tower of Babel: Where is God in chaos and confusion?

The opening chapters of Genesis reveal a sobering truth: human ambition, when left unchecked, often leads to chaos and confusion. This doesn’t mean ambition itself is evil. Healthy ambition can be a gift—caring for family, stewarding our work well, and striving to serve others faithfully. But when ambition shifts from serving God to replacing God, things unravel quickly.

Many of us feel this tension today. Some prepare for worst-case scenarios, stocking “go-bags” or planning for societal collapse. Others watch economic instability, rapid technological growth, or the widening gap between rich and poor and quietly wonder, How is this all going to turn out? Beneath it all is a shared anxiety: Can human effort really secure our future?

Genesis shows us that this anxiety is nothing new. From Adam and Eve’s desire to be like God, to Cain’s jealousy, to the corruption that preceded the flood, Scripture reveals a familiar pattern: rebellion, consequences, God’s call to repentance, and God’s enduring promise to save. The Tower of Babel sits squarely within this cycle.

After the flood, God commanded humanity to spread out, fill the earth, and trust His provision. Instead, the people settled together on the plains of Shinar and pooled their ingenuity into building a city and a massive tower. Their motivation is revealing: “Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” What appeared to be unity and progress was actually fear-driven ambition. They sought security apart from God, comfort over obedience, and control instead of trust.

The tower—likely a ziggurat—was not merely an engineering project. It was a spiritual statement. Humanity was attempting to reach heaven on its own terms and anchor identity in collective achievement rather than divine promise. God’s response may seem harsh at first, but it was deeply merciful. By confusing their language and dispersing them, God interrupted a path that would have led to deeper pride and greater destruction.

In other words, God met human chaos with loving restraint.

Scripture reminds us that God’s ambition is different from ours. While human ambition often curves inward toward self-glory, God’s ambition moves outward toward restoration. The scattering at Babel fulfilled God’s original command to fill the earth and created space for cultures, languages, and peoples to flourish under His care.

Even more importantly, Babel was not the end of the story.

At Epiphany, we see God’s ultimate answer to chaos and confusion in Jesus Christ—the true Light who entered a darkened world. Where humanity once tried to climb to heaven, God came down to us. Christ’s ambition was not self-exaltation but self-giving love, leading Him all the way to the cross. And where Babel fractured communication, the Holy Spirit later brought reversal at Pentecost—creating unity not through uniformity, but through faith in Christ.

The lesson is clear: faith in Christ alone brings order and clarity to sin’s chaos and confusion. God’s “no” is often an act of love, like a parent protecting a child from harm. Even when He allows disruption, it is always for the sake of redemption.

Babel reminds us that God is never absent in chaos. He is actively at work—correcting, guiding, and calling us back to Himself. And this story is only the beginning. God’s promise will soon move through one man, one family, and eventually bless all nations.

Stay tuned.