Ezekiel 28:2b, 6b-7
2b “In the pride of your heart you say, ‘I am a god, I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.’ But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god.”…

6b “Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god, 7 I am going to bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations; they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom and pierce your shining splendor.”

God speaks here through Ezekiel, one of the Old Testament’s major prophets, pronouncing sentence against the city of Tyre and its ruler for the pride and conceit in their thinking. In its day, Tyre was a great trading and shipping city, well-known, loved, and envied for its wealth. But Tyre and its citizens have grown too complacent, too proud of their achievements, to even acknowledge God anymore. They have begun to think of themselves as gods, infinitely wise, infinitely omniscient.

Here, God says He will bring “foreigners” against Tyre in an assault which will “pierce” the veil of their conceited thinking and pride. This is not an evil act by God, because God does not do evil. Instead, this is a hard lesson for Tyre, a lesson of humility and remembering just Who is in control. The city and its inhabitants have gone on too long believing that they are the ones with ultimate power and wisdom.

This prophecy is about a city, but God can and will humble us in similar ways when we get too prideful and complacent about our own achievements. I experienced this in 2009 with my debacle of a teaching career; God proved to me that I could fail, and publicly, though I had spent most of my school years being given this award and that achievement. It was embarrassing and shaming, but ultimately important for me to reevaluate my personal worth. I got into a better place with God because I no longer thought of myself as striving to be perfect and accomplished.

When we start thinking in terms of all the acclaim we’ve gained, or all the community respect we command, we inevitably lose sight of the fact that God blessed us with that. Everything we have ultimately comes from God’s blessing; when we forget that, and start thinking we got all of this ourselves, God will not hesitate to humble us, to remind us Who is ultimately in control.