“And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations…” (Ezekiel 29:12).
TEXT — Ezekiel 29:1-21
Message
Gabriela Mistral, a 1945 Chilean Nobel laureate in literature, wrote a legend on “Why Reeds Are Hollow”. The reeds once led a revolution advocating height equality for all plants regardless of their girth, variety or form. A few other plants protested that the proposal was unnatural and prideful, but they were ignored. Suddenly, one night, the shorter plants overgrew. However, within a month of the new equality, problems arose due to the unnatural height of most herbs. Some dried or broke up. Many lost their flowers to the wind and were fruitless because pollinators could not reach their flowers to fertilize them. Only the naturally tall trees thrived. Humans and animals starved. At first, the reeds rationalized all these problems, but finally, they admitted that when they reached upward, they became hollow. After a while, the natural order was restored, and plants reverted to their usual growth pattern. However, the reeds are hollow due to their pride.
In today’s text, God predicted the judgment of the old Egyptian empire and how they would turn out to be a disappointing ‘staff of reed’ to the Israelites who trusted in them for military support. Egypt was the first world power mentioned in the Bible but became proud and cruel. Egypt began to boast that, “My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.” However, God predicted that she would be stripped of her dominance and become desolate so that her inhabitants would learn to be humble and revere God. The empire eventually lost her glamour and dominance.
God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Pride makes a person thinks too highly, and speaks loftily of themselves; looks down on others, and forget they owe their fortunes to God. The way out of the pitfall of pride is to realise that whatever we are or have is bestowed by God, and we will give account to Him, who is our Proprietor.
Thought for the day
Even good intentions and actions get ruined by pride.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
