A worldwide tech outage on Friday, July 19, caused by a CrowdStrike software problem, affected millions of people and exposed the vulnerability of our digitally connected world. The Wall Street Journal reported, "The outage touched almost every industry” (WSJ, July 19, 2024).  
 
With the aid of computer technology, our world is an amazing place. We can shop for clothes online at Amazon and wear them the next day. We can book travel reservations for a hotel in another state or country, months in advance. We can have Zoom meetings that connect family and friends living thousands of miles apart. Yet, all this incredible technology is prone to error and failure, which became glaringly apparent that Friday.
 
Living in such a technologically advanced world has many advantages, but putting lasting trust in anything man builds is futile. On the other hand, God’s word tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Of course, man is not inclined to look to God. Instead, he builds himself a world of his own making that he tries to perpetuate. He will be disappointed because “The world is passing away” and all that is in it (1 John 2:17). “But he who does the will of God abides forever” (ibid.).

Building Babel today 

In ancient times, as civilization on earth grew, the Bible describes men seeking to build a united world. “They said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves'" (Genesis 11:4). God put a stop to this because it was not yet time for humanity to be so unified. He saw the people having "one language" and said, “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech” (Genesis 11:6-7). This the Lord did, and man's effort to unite his world fell flat. And "Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth (Genesis 11:9).
 
Today, mankind is attempting to build another Tower of Babel, a technologically united world. The computer systems that make it operate are like its common language. God will allow him to go so far as almost to destroy himself. Just as in the ancient story, this modern Babel, known as Babylon in Scripture, will fall. Before it does, "the kings of the earth" and "the merchants of the earth" will "become rich through the abundance of her luxury" (Revelation 18:3). They will seek to perpetuate the source of their wealth. But when this world collapses, they will cry, “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come” (Revelation 18:10).

Trust in God, not man's technology

The lesson again for us is: "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help” (Psalms 146:3). God tells us, “Come out of her, [Babylon] my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

Though we enjoy the benefits of living in a technologically advanced world, we must keep ourselves holy and separate from it. We do that by putting our trust only in God because our modern civilization will eventually come to a grinding halt. For “Thus says the Lord: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength'” (Jeremiah 17:5). Indeed, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in [man]” (Psalms 118:8).