Never Strong Again

 God has His own way of rendering a person or a nation ineffective, so that they will never be strong again. Of course, this is God's reaction to very severe sin. He does it in love to draw them to Him, but He also does it for the good of those around them, if He knows they will never repent of their sins and get right with Him. Egypt is a great example of this. (Ezekiel 30:21) Before the days of Ezekiel, Egypt was one of the most powerful countries of the world. That is why the Israelites  turned to them for help against their enemies. However, God broke the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and it was not bound up or bandaged for healing. Therefore, Egypt was never able to be strong to hold the sword again. That was almost 3,000 years ago, and Egypt still is not a strong military power. That is the power of the Lord in this world.

We need to make sure that we do not sin against God in such a way that He needs to render us ineffective. Paul used an athletic analogy to make this point. (I Corinthians 9:27) He said he bruised his body to make it his slave, so that after he had preached to others, he would not be disqualified. What a terrible thought! After we have been saved and shared the truth with others, we can sin so badly that we are disqualified from being used by God. Also, this is true for nations like Egypt in Ezekiel's day. The Lord has used America in many wonderful ways to share the gospel with the world. However, we could sin against God so badly that He renders us ineffective in His service. I wonder if the things that are happening here today haven't already started that process, because the world sees all of our blatant sins, and it dulls our influence and message. I pray we never cross that line as individuals and as a nation.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Ezekiel 33-35.