30 July | EVERYONE
“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.” Ezekiel 28: 14,15
The king of Tyre felt that the stars were watching him from the sky. Just him. The other poor mortals did not deserve such a privilege because they were no more than that, mere mortals. Then God sent him a message through Ezekiel. “Because your heart is lifted up, and you say, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, in the midst of the seas,’ yet you are a man, and not a god, though you set your heart as the heart of a god" (28:2).
The figure of the king of Tyre is an allegory through which we can see how sin began. Lucifer was a cherub. He dwelt on "the holy mountain of God." The cherubim belong to a special group of angels. In the Bible, they are shown as being on special missions and are almost always near the throne of God. Lucifer was perfect "in [his] ways," as today's text tells us. God did not create the devil but a perfect angel. Why did a good angel harbor evil in his heart? It is a mystery. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, calls it the “mystery of lawlessness" (2 Thess. 2:7).
Ezekiel says that the cause of Lucifer's sin was his beauty (see Ezek. 28:17). The original Hebrew gives the idea of "splendid, brilliant." Qualities that could have been a blessing to Lucifer but, mysteriously, were his misfortune. Does that explain why sometimes God does not entrust us with some talents? Could they be the tragedy of our lives?
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Accept the fact that you are who you are. God is never wrong! You, as you are, the way you are, with what you have or do not have, are the most precious thing in God's eyes. Be happy like that. Learn to be. Do not go through life complaining about not being taller, or shorter, or fatter, or skinnier. Just be yourself and be happy.