“I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches and all the trees of Eden envied it that were in the garden of God. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds and its heart was proud of its height, I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.'”
– Ezekiel 31:9–11
I don’t know if you were able to follow that, but this is basically God speaking about a Assyria and He says in verse nine, “I made it beautiful.” He’s comparing Assyria to a cedar tree. It’s beautiful, and the mass of its branches, all the trees of Eden, like the garden envied it. And in this way, this verse, verse nine is a reminder that God is the one who makes things beautiful, that every good thing comes from His hand. Every picture of beauty in the world, in our lives is His handiwork.
Then listen to Ezekiel 31:10. “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because it towered high and sets its top among the clouds and its heart was proud of its height.” So now we see the problem. When there are good things in our lives that we don’t realize come from God and instead we attribute them to ourselves leading to pride in our lives. God says, “I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. I will give Assyria over.” In other words, He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. “I have cast it out.”
Ezekiel 31:9–11 Encourages Us to Reflect on Beauty
I just want to encourage you to pause today and think about, reflect on that which is beautiful around you in your life, that which is good and not to reflect for a short time here, but for a long time, to really think about it. I know many people struggle even with thinking good thoughts about themselves, which is dishonoring to God. There are so many good things, beautiful things about who you are. God makes clear in Psalm 8 that when you look in the mirror, you are seeing someone who is made a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned with glory and honor. See yourself as fearfully and wonderfully made, as beautifully made by God.
See His grace, His goodness, His beauty and all kinds of things in you and around you. Praise Him for it and then be careful not to be proud for any of it. When you achieve something, when you accomplish a feat, when you gain this or that, to always see that it’s from God that good and beautiful things come, to realize that there is no room for pride in a universe governed by God who is the fountain of everything good.
Ezekiel 31:9–11 Leads Us to Rejoice in Accomplishments
And in this way, we can actually rejoice in accomplishments, in achievements and things we gain. In all kinds of beautiful things around us, we can have true joy when we have those things if we are humbly thanking God for those things, humbly giving God glory for those things, and in all of this loving God more than the good things, even in such a way that when those good things are gone, as long as God is there, we are good.
Oh God, we praise you for the evidences of your beauty all around us, your handiwork in our lives, around our lives, around the world. God help us today to pause and give you glory for beauty around us, for goodness in us, around us. And God, we pray that you would guard us from pride, that you would help us to remember it every moment that you are the author of every good thing, and in this way for our hearts to be continually turned toward you as we see and experience good things around us.
Pray for the Baloch of Pakistan
We praise you God, as the author of everything good. And we praise you Jesus, as the one who makes every good thing in our lives possible because of your death on the cross and your resurrection from the grave.
We pray for the Baloch Jalbani people of Pakistan who don’t know your goodness, Jesus, who don’t know where to turn their hearts in true worship as they enjoy beauty around them. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to the Baloch Jalbani people of Pakistan.
And God we pray that you would help us to steward all your goodness in our lives for the spread of the gospel to them. In Jesus’ name we pray according to Ezekiel 31:9–11. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
