28 Then this message came to me from the Lord: ² “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.
³ You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel
    and think no secret is hidden from you.
⁴ With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth—
    gold and silver for your treasuries.
⁵ Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich,
    and your riches have made you very proud.

⁶ “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Because you think you are as wise as a god,
⁷     I will now bring against you a foreign army,
    the terror of the nations.
They will draw their swords against your marvelous wisdom
    and defile your splendor!
⁸ They will bring you down to the pit,
    and you will die in the heart of the sea,
    pierced with many wounds.
⁹ Will you then boast, ‘I am a god!’
    to those who kill you?
To them you will be no god
    but merely a man!
¹⁰ You will die like an outcast
    at the hands of foreigners.
    I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Ezekiel 28:1-10

Dear God, I feel very convicted by this passage this morning. At first, I was reading it and thinking judgmentally about the Israelites. Then I started to notice your mocking tone through Ezekiel. Then I felt like the Holy Spirit nudged me that I might be closer to seeing myself as a god than I would like to admit.

It mainly comes at work lately. We are looking at a facility expansion at work. It will require a multi-million dollar capital campaign. We had a consultant work with us, and we mapped out where the money would come from. Whom could we ask? How much might they give? Names and numbers were assigned. But it was all about my wisdom. My persuasion. My ability. My charisma. My charm.

Two summers ago, when we first started talking about expanding our facility, I leaned into the story of Hezekiah from 2 Kings 18. The enemy is on its way. They are threatening Jerusalem. Hezekiah is scared. He prays to you. He throws himself down on the ground before you. Then he hears from you through Isaiah that the enemy won’t even fire an arrow at the city. Ultimately, you pull off something miraculous that only you could do. At the time, I felt like you told me, “Don’t worry about the money for this. The money will come.” But here I am two years later, worrying about the money and leaning on myself to find it.

Father, everything good I have comes from you. And the sorrows and struggles in my life are even working to form me into who you want me to be. I have a long way to go, but here I am, this Tuesday morning, sitting before you to worship, bow down, and say that you are my God. You are the God. You are God. I am sorry for my lack of faith. I am sorry for my tendency to lean on myself instead of dying to myself and leaning on you. I love you, Lord. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for speaking to me this morning and nudging me towards this passage and through this passage. Thank you Jesus for loving me and caring for me. Thank you for molding me.

I offer all of this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen