Ezekiel 17 talks about how God will save Israel and raise Israel up, while God will bring Babylon down. The last verse:
24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it.”
reminds me of another verse:
James 4
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
which also relates to this verse:
Proverbs 16
18 Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before [f]a fall.
19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly,
Than to divide the [g]spoil with the proud.
These verses show us that God delights in humility and will exalt the lowly, but those who are proud will be humbled by their fall, or perhaps by God. We can see that being proud is not an admirable quality to have and God also resists the proud, hence there is no reason to be proud. However, as humans, it can happen that we become proud due to different reasons, and these reasons point to our bruised inner world and how we are comparing ourselves to others, or exalting our own selves. Comparison with others also means one is judging them, and when one thinks of oneself as better than others, it is like this verse says:
Matthew 7
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
Being blind to one's own weaknesses, one cannot even see others clearly.
Matthew 7
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
When the plank is removed and one’s vision is restored, one can see the beauty in others and their strengths.
Therefore, this chapter reminds us of lowliness and humility in our lives.
