"I Sit In The Seat of God"

Ezekiel 28:1-7

The blue area is Phoenicia. The purple arrows are where they traveled (all the way to modern Great Britain) and the purple areas are the regions they greatly influenced culturally.

I love the U.S.A. The more I learn about the world, the more I thank God that I was born here. We are one of the more prosperous nations in the world. We have some of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes of any country. We are blessed! However, it is that very blessing that has made us proud and may just be our downfall.

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The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2 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: 3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: 4 jWith thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: 5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and mthine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: 6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; 7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, pthe terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

Ezekiel 28:1-7

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Just like Tyre (or Tyrus in the text), we have become proud because of our blessings and think far too highly of ourselves. God told Tyre that they thought of themselves as God. The capital "G" was used because they had put themselves on His throne and in His place; or so they thought. That is true for America today. Humanism has swept across our government, schools, and even churches. We are questioning the very foundation of our government because life is all about "me". We are questioning history and science because life is all about "me". We even question God's Word because life is all about "me".

Just like Tyre, America is rich. Like Tyre, America exports and imports ALL over the world. We have influence ALL over the world. We are also influenced by ALL of the world. This trade with the world make us think that we are something special. When you listen to our leaders and media, humility sounds extinct in America.

It was this pride that led to God's judging Tyre. In the next section of this chapter, God used the king of Tyre as an analogy for Satan. He would be judged as well. Tyre had been given much but they were not grateful to God for what he had given them. Instead, they praised themselves. They rejected God and bragged about all of their accomplishments. Their favorite subject to talk about was themselves. Sound familiar?

God did not create us to praise ourselves. Could you imagine putting a bookshelf together and placing books on it and then all of a sudden it started talking. "Look at me! Look at all the books I can hold! Look at how pretty I am! I don't need anyone to help me hold up these books! I did this myself!" Sounds dumb right. So, when we were created by God, doesn't it sound just as dumb for us to talk about all of our accomplishments while excluding God? We are his creation but act as though we are God and he does not exist.

Father, help me to live a life of praise. May I not think more highly of myself than I ought. You created me and my life is yours. I may not always like my experiences, but you are working something for my good and your glory through it all. Help me to always remember this!