A Warning against Pride
Today’s reading: Ezekiel 28:1-31:18
My selection: Ezekiel 28:1-2
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:
“ Because your heart is proud,
and you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,’
yet you are but a man, and no god,
though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
My reflections: Ezekiel brings God’s indictments against “foreign” nations. There is a common thread. Tyre and others have been proud and lifted themselves up as gods. They have not recognized the true God, maker of heaven and earth. For this they will be brought down.
Isn’t pride at the heart of all sin? Pride manifests the violation of the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3). It was the essence of the serpent’s temptation to Eve: “you will be like God…” (Genesis 3:4-5). Pride is a desire to ignore God and to replace ourselves as God.
My challenge: Pride is an ugly thing. Do not let it take root in your heart as it did in the condemned nations of Ezekiel’s day. Flee from pride and replace it with the fear of the Lord.
Tomorrow’s reading: Ezekiel 32:1-34:31