From Babel to a Bursting Bibliography

I'm often struck at the ironies of God's dealings in the world...he generally chooses people who are not considered big shots to be those who will inherit eternal life(1 Cor. 1:26-27)...it is in admission of weakness that you obtain spiritual strength(2 Cor. 12:9)...God saves those who admit that they are truly bad not those who strive to be 'good enough'(Luke 18:9-14). Here is another irony that I've never really thought of before I read this little news item.
(NOTE: SIL is the 'linguistic-oriented' sister organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators. Almost every member of Wycliffe is also a member of SIL, including us)

"On April 28, 2010, SIL bibliographer, Dave Irwin, accessioned the 40,000 item into the corporate bibliography, marking another milestone in the history of SIL International. The SIL Bibliography records works authored or edited by members of SIL International or produced by a publishing unit of SIL. The materials of the Bibliography date from 1935 and were first compiled in 1948 into an 8 page booklet containing 73 items. Eight more print editions of the Bibliography were published from 1951-1992 - each one of them growing in size and scope (381 items representing 40 languages in 1951 to 21,000+ items representing 1225+ languages in 1992). Since 1996, the Bibliography (excluding Scripture) has been available online. The current Bibliography now contains over 40,100 items representing 2726 languages."

Interesting, huh? The original source of the multiplicity of languages came from the historical event of the tower of Babel when God confused the languages of the people. And now, by far, the greatest single source of cross-linguistic research in history is a bunch of Christians. These Christians also believing that God will one day be worshiped by people from every tribe, nation, and language (Rev. 5). God created great diversity out the unity at Babel and is now unifying that great diversity in these last days through Jesus. Amen, come Lord Jesus!