Ezekiel 29:16 Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’”
I have had occasions in the past where a student had an issue with an instrument. I told them how to deal with the issue, but they had other ideas. "We got this!" Not wanting too much of my instruction they ventured off on their own or sought out other help. Usually they ended up coming back with a worse mess than they started with. All because they rejected my help.
Israel’s history stretches back a long way. In today’s passage (which was around 600 BC) Ezekiel is prophesying that Israel cannot count on Egypt any longer. But wait? Egypt? Wasn’t Egypt the place they had been enslaved for 400 years? Weren’t they always reminding themselves of that by quoting verses like, “I am the Lord that brought you out of Egypt…”? Why would they be turning to Egypt now?
It’s part of a long story, but the short version is that Israel had always had trouble with loyalty to God. God had graciously worked in their lives and helped them. But He had also instructed them on how He expected them to live. His way seemed so constricting to them. They preferred more of a cafeteria plan. A little of God, a little of something else. They defin-itely were interested in God. Rarely were they ready to just be done with Him. But He was only one god among many. And that’s where the problems began. Their prob-lems became bigger and bigger and encompassed all of their life. But they didn’t want to turn to God for help. He had expectations. They’d have to admit their fault. So they looked for help from Egypt.
People are still really good at this. A lot of people are not anti-God. But they want just a little bit of God. They want to accessorize their life with God. Life’s not perfect, so why not add in a little bit of God? They’ll still be making all the decisions. They’ll still be setting all the priorities. But, who knows? Maybe a little bit of God in their life will be just the thing they’ve been missing!
The thing is, God won’t cooperate in that scheme. You may have read in the Bible that God is a jealous God. It sounds kind of bad, doesn’t it? But it just means that God will not share your attention. Unlike most instances of jealousy though, with God it works itself out differently. A jealous boyfriend might become angry and try to force loyalty. Not God. He will withdraw. If we are not willing to give Him our full allegiance, He will not force us. But He will not accept a minor role in our lives.
I have learned that I am not that good at calling all the shots. My life got infinitely better when I allowed God full control! Since then, I have had far fewer messes for Him to fix!
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
