Thine Heart is Lifted Up
Today's Verse:
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: ~Ezekiel 28:2
Perhaps the one area of life that everyone battles with on a daily basis is the problem of pride. Pride is having an inflated and over-exaggerated opinion of who we think we are or what we think we can do. Pride is a problem where the “I” is in the middle of everything. Someone said that pride is a disease that makes everyone around it sick except for the person who has it. Ezekiel 28 tells us about the rise and fall of Lucifer. He is referred to as the king of Tyrus in vv. 12-19. He was so inflated with pride that we are told that his heart was lifted up and he proclaimed that he was God! He said this openly in front of God and all the other angels. When I read this, my response to this is, “Who do you think you are?” Let’s take a moment this morning to ask ourselves that same question.
There is the reason for pride.
The Bible tells us that in the last days, men shall be lovers of themselves. We are proud of our appearance. We look in the mirror at ourselves and are filled with vanity concerning our looks, our clothing style, and how much we think we impress people with our outward appearance. We are proud of our acumen. Whatever knowledge we have puffs us up. We think we are experts and have to overwhelm people with our so-called knowledge. We are proud of our achievements. We think we deserve attention for what we have done. We are proud of our accumulations. We think we are great because of our possessions. Sadly, pride is when we live for self-exaltation. Pride is when we think we are somebody!
There is the reaping in pride.
Pride is extremely dangerous. Lucifer was so proud that he said, “I am a God.” Satan told Eve, “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Consider the repercussion in pride: “When pride cometh, then cometh shame” (Proverbs 11:2); “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18); “A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit” (Proverbs 29:23). Pride resulted in Satan’s fall. Pride resulted in Nebuchadnezzar’s fall. Pride resulted in King Herod’s fall. When pride sets in, there is only one direction: down! God hates pride. Pride is an affront against a holy God. Our pride is telling God we are great when we are not. God resisteth the proud. Pride is thinking we are like God. God told Lucifer, “I will cast thee to the ground.”
There is the recovery from pride.
There is only one remedy against pride. We must humble ourselves before God. This means we must first confess that we have the sin of pride within us. Then, we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. We must come before God as helpless, weak, and completely dependent upon Him. We must see ourselves as beggars in need of God’s mercies. We must remove all thoughts of self-exaltation and self-exaggeration and acknowledge that God alone is great. We must realize that everything we are and have is a gift from God. We must always remember that we are stewards of whatever God has given to us and give Him glory for any achievements that come our way.
Pride is our biggest enemy. We must defeat pride before pride defeats us. Remember that you and I are nothing without God!
Have a humble God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Numbers 33-34