S： Ezekiel 28:2,6-10 Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign Lord: “In your great pride you claim, ‘I am a god! I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the sea.’ But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast that you are a god. ... Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you think you are as wise as a god, I will now bring against you a foreign army, the terror of the nations. They will draw their swords against your marvellous wisdom and defile your splendour! They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die in the heart of the sea, pierced with many wounds. Will you then boast, ‘I am a god!’ to those who kill you? To them you will be no god but merely a man! You will die like an outcast at the hands of foreigners. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
O: The Prince of Tyre had had great success. Tyre was a great trading empire and the Prince of Tyre was very powerful. Unfortunately, in his success, his pride grew until he thought he was a god.
The One True God showed him his error.
This passage brings to mind another ruler who was so proud that he thought he was a god -- King Herod (Acts 12:22-23). God struck him down, too.
A: When we achieve success, we must guard against pride. As Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall."
For me, one of the things I've been feeling like I have had good success with is my marriage. Juliane & I have a good marriage -- not without problems, mind you, but a good one. I've had to be humbled lately with areas I still have to improve on, even as we have started taking on the task of helping others with their marriages -- we have started helping to run the Alpha Marriage Course.
It is fine to be happy with our successes, but let's not become big-headed.
P: Father, thank You for the blessings You have given me, like my marriage. Help me to keep the right perspective and be thankful, and not to be proud or boastful. In Jesus' name, amen.
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