Do I Live in Tyre?

 

As I read through Ezekiel 28-31, one thing becomes very clear.

The judgment God predicts through Ezekiel over Tyre and Egypt comes because of one basic sin – pride.  

For Tyre, it was because of their wealth and success as key traders and merchants with all the countries of the known world at their time.  Tyre was a leading city in the height of their existence. 

Their success made them so proud they said, “I am god.” (see Ezekiel 29:2).

As for Egypt, their pride came from their ability to use their natural resources such as the Nile River to enhance their power and influence in the world.  

In Ezekiel 29:3, Egyptian rulers were saying, "My Nile is my own; I made it for myself."

I do not think the important message to me from these chapters in Ezekiel have much to do with the specific national entities named although those prophecies did come true for Tyre and Egypt.

It is as easy for a nation to become over-confident as it is for an individual.  When either nation or individual allows themselves to become so proud of their accomplishments that they forget why they are successful, they have crossed the line with God and become vulnerable to judgment.   

We see that repeated throughout history, nations that led the world in wealth and power in their days, but are no longer world leaders.

The world leaders of the 21st century are just as vulnerable to the sin of pride in what they can do, what they know, what they have. My own nation and those of us living here now must live cautiously, recognizing the power of the sin of pride.

I must not allow myself to forget that what I have is all a part of God's blessing on me. What my nation has and has been able to do is only ours until we begin to say "I am my own god. I can do whatever I wish."

Unfortunately, I think we in the United States are not alone in the world as having arrived at the point when God may have to act, as He did with Tyre and Egypt so many years ago.

The Bottom Line

 

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.

 As an American, brought up in a country and society where pulling oneself up by his boot straps, so to speak, is considered an admirable accomplishment, these verses are challenging.  

If a person has worked to get a good education and has battled all the odds to get a good job and establish a good bank account, should they not be proud of their accomplishments?   

What I notice in these verses is that I am not to boast in my accomplishments. To boast is to speak with exaggeration or excessive pride about something. 

Ah hah, there is the problem! 

I have to be cautious about how I perceive my accomplishments. They can become what I boast about, what I rely upon, what I depend upon.

There is a knowledge far superior to my educational background or my work experience.

There is a wealth far superior to my bank account or my credit rating.

What I need more than accomplishment, more than education, more than wealth, is to be smart enough and humble enough to recognize that there is something bigger and more important in the long run than those things.

That "something" is having the understanding to know God and acknowledge Him as God.  I find that wording very enlightening.  Our boasting is to be in the fact that we understand enough to know God.  That we recognize that God in His kindness, justice, and righteousness has blessed us with any wisdom, strength, or wealth that we may have.  That His hand has been in it all.

 He is my “bottom line,” not what I have accomplished or gained on my own.

It puts my education, my accomplishments, and my wealth into perspective. I am proud of them, but guardedly so. No boasting here ... just thanks and appreciation to the God who helped me attain whatever I have.