“I Will Bring A Sword Against You”

In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.”

But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales.

I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.

Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. “‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel. When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched.

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will bring a sword against you and kill both man and beast. Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“‘Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I made it,”

Ezekiel 29:1-9

We make nothing. We add nothing. We take away from the earth. It is God who made the world. It is God who added people, animals, and food. It is God who gives us the earth and everything on it, and we should protect it. We did not make it.

Pharaoh failed to realize that he did not make the Nile. The people of Egypt failed to acknowledge that God alone provides natural resources. As a result, God promised to punish the nation.

We are to care for God’s creation. We are not to forget that everything we have comes from the Lord.

Whenever we talk about a good thing that has come to us or that we say we accomplished, we need to remember what God says, “I am the Lord; that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another.”

To God be the glory – great things He has done.

Our Daily Bread – April 12, 2015