Egos

I loved reading to our sons when they were children.

Oh the books we did read!  Big books, small books and everything in between.  Each one took us on an adventure and most provoked a number of interesting conversations.

Once they would sit still long enough for something more than a few words with many pictures a few books by Dr. Seuss were on the favorites list.

One of those books came to mind today.  It is entitled "Yertle the Turtle."

Yertle was the king of the pond.  His throne was a stone, which enabled him to view all of his kingdom.          One day he was pontificating over his grandeur and came to the conclusion that, in light of his majesty, he should have a larger kingdom.  What an ego!  He decided that if he could see further, he would rule even a greater area.

The Old Testament book of Esther is one of my focuses at the moment. It is the subject of a Beth Moore study that I am participating in.  The grandeur of King Ahasuerus' kingdom and the size of his ego come to life in the first few verses of the first chapter.  He had displayed his wealth for one hundred and eighty days, which included a banquet to beat all banquets!  As I read, I thought of King Yertle.  Especially after I read Beth's note that explained the purpose of such a display.

His kingdom ranged from India to Ethiopia.  Greece was the only holdout and the king was eyeing it.  He was planning to further his kingdom and knew it would take a major war.  So he was wooing those whose full commitment was needed to win. The war ultimately was a disaster.

Back to Yertle.  He decided to have his subjects stack themselves on top of one another to afford their king a higher throne.  This too ended in disaster.

This month I am working my way through the Book of Jeremiah with Moody;s Today in the Word..  

This dear prophet is known as the weeping prophet. It is difficult to read this book and not want to weep with him.

The LORD God had given Jeremiah a message for his people.  It was a serious warning, but one where the love for His people is evident.  How He longs for them to heed His Words and return to Him.

Yet, they don't.  Even when the warnings begin to materialize they still reject the message and the messenger, which simply means they are rejecting their God.

Why?  I think ego has a lot to do with it.  The flesh does not like to submit, but wants to reign. 

I have read Esther before and know that a couple of egos take center stage in that story.  As in Jeremiah's tale also.

Yesterday Ray and I climbed on a small cruise boat and took a cruise around the Thimble Islands.  They are very small islands.  Most of which are privately owned and have been built upon. We got to see some very lovely homes, which were almost as big as the rocks on which they were built.  The price of these small islands is not small.  The price of building and maintaining houses on them is even greater.  And they are just vacation homes!

The idea of spending such sums, even if you can afford it, and living so separately from others is not something I can imagine doing.  What motivates such choices?
I am sure that the ego plays a part in the grand scheme of things.  The thought of doing it because you can, of standing out from the rest, etc. probably motivates some.

The ego is not isolated to those in power.  No, we all have one and to deny this fact is to end up stumbling on to disaster.  Another word for ego is pride.  Pride elevates oneself, while blinding us to our own faults.

The teaching of AA addresses the ego.  The ego is a trouble maker.  It hurts the individual and all those around him.  We need help!

Which is why we study these books.  There we learn and find hope!

The great gift that we have, as children of God, thanks to the Blood of Jesus (!), is that we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into all learning.  The Spirit coupled with the Word is the best way to deal with the ego!

Every bit of Scripture is for our benefit.  Romans Fifteen, verse Four tells us that:

"For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."

To attempt to deal with the ego on our own is a hopeless situation, but our God is the God of hope!