The Tower All of Paris Wanted Torn Down

When Gustave Eiffel unveiled his iron tower for the 1889 World's Fair, three hundred of France's most prominent artists and intellectuals signed a furious petition against it. They called it "a dishonor to the city," a "metal asparagus," a grotesque skeleton of bolts and beams that would scar the Parisian skyline forever. The city council granted a twenty-year permit, fully expecting it would be dismantled in 1909. No one imagined it would last.

Yet something shifted. The tower proved indispensable for radio transmission, for weather observation, for science no one had anticipated. Year after year, the demolition date was quietly postponed. Today, the Eiffel Tower is not merely a landmark — it is Paris itself. Nearly seven million people climb it every year. The very thing the cultural elite rejected became the cornerstone of the city's identity.

The psalmist knew this pattern intimately. "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes." What the powerful dismiss, the Almighty exalts. What the world discards, God places at the foundation.

This is the testimony of every believer who has walked through seasons of rejection, failure, or invisibility — only to discover that the Most High was building something no one else could see. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. And the things He builds, no petition can tear down.