Day 26

A Lament for Pharaoh

from the Ezekiel: Come to Life (Lent 2022) reading plan


Ezekiel 31:1-18, Ezekiel 32:1-32, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

BY Scarlet Hiltibidal

I sat at a table with some people at church the other night. My husband was teaching a theology class and giving logical arguments for the existence of God. After teaching us a lot of big words, he talked about how none of it hits our hearts without experiential evidence. If we don’t experience a relationship with God, we’re just putting big words and big thoughts into our brains. 

Afterward, there was a time of discussion, and most of us at the table shared which of the terms we’d just learned meant the most to us in our walks of faith. 

I thought back and told the group that experiencing God’s mercy is what changed everything for me.

The woman next to me said, “I’ve never had an experience with God. I want that. I want to see His physical body. I want to hear His voice.”

Her honest and beautiful desire to know God opened up a conversation at our table that convicted me. Walking through the basics of our faith with a seeking woman caused me to remember just how little I had to do with my salvation and with any of the good things God has done in my life.

Everyone at that table remembered and shared how broken we were and how hopeless we felt before knowing Jesus Christ. We remembered what it felt like to be stuck in sin, believing there was no way out. We told this woman what Jesus Christ promised about seeking and finding Him. 

The thing about humbling yourself before a holy God and being rescued by His amazing grace, is that as time passes, you sometimes forget. You find yourself at church functions thinking you have all the right answers to the table questions. You find yourself reading Ezekiel 31 and 32 and judging the pharaoh for being so arrogant rather than lamenting over the sin in your own heart that you still battle. Sometimes, in the Christian life, the things the spirit of the Lord has done in your life can start to feel like things you made happen. 

Reading through today’s passages, and being confronted with verse after verse about Pharaoh’s arrogance and God’s wrath toward it, reminded me how sneaky pride can be. It is easier to look at the actions and flaws of others and get judgemental. It is tempting to take credit for what Jesus Christ has done in our lives. 

But, “It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption—in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1Corinthians 1:30–31).

There’s nothing like sitting at a table with a truth seeker and being reminded of when you were a truth seeker. There’s nothing like opening the pages of the Bible, looking for answers, and then remembering your Rescuer. God’s Word can take us right back to that place of dependence, adoration, and awe. God’s Word can lead us to humble, surrendered joy. During this Lenten season we are reminded that we can lament over our sin and the sin we see around us, but all the while rejoicing, because friends, we’ve been forgiven! 

Post Comments (65)

65 thoughts on "A Lament for Pharaoh"

  1. Terany Garnett says:

    The supporting text clarify the confusion of what Ezekiel was being told by God. It’s helps when another passage within the Bible clarify another.

  2. Lori Lackey says:

    Oh didn’t mean to post yet…. Anyway fast forward and after a painful ending to a relationship, out of obedience…God has changed my life…. I wrote a charter for a sought after charter school in our area, and have been the superintendent for 11 years. I know that I could not do this on my own… this was a good reminder that God used me to to “shame the wise”, and if I am not careful, he can use the foolish to shame me as well.

  3. Lori Lackey says:

    I am late to this post, Ezekiel is hard. But oh my…. 1 Cor 1:26-31 got me. I was a teen mom. 2 children by the time I was 21. Attended trade school, but got pregnant before putting it to work. Became a believer shortly after my 2nd son was born. My now x convinced me that I was stupid … and had a face only a mother could love. (I no longer believe that to be true).

  4. Mary Stephens-Clark says:

    How true that we easily forget not where He brought us from, but that it was HE that brought us. Lord, help me to remember that I can only stand in righteousness because I stand in You!

  5. Heidi Larsen says:

    I feel all of that! I’ve tried the audio as well. It’s a tough chapter to slog through. Hang in there with me!

  6. Melanie ❣️ says:

    Amen

  7. Kim Green says:

    I have been wallowing in the past, and downtrodden by the sin I see around me, but have forgotten that there is joy that I am forgiven. I have allowed the enemy’s lie to get to me. But I have been forgiven !

  8. Ashlee Hickson says:

    I am so grateful to have a God that is so forgiving. It is easy to forget that we are not the reason we have what we have, it is also easy to be prideful.

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