Day 25

A Prophecy of Egypt’s Ruin

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


Ezekiel 29:1-21, Ezekiel 30:1-26, Romans 5:6-11

BY Yana Conner

In my early twenties, a mentor of mine sat me down to share with me a concept called the “good-bad split” from Henry Cloud’s book Changes That Heal. This concept speaks of how, as humans, we tend to either go all good on a person—only seeing the savory parts of them, or all bad—solely viewing them through the lens of their unsavory ones. She then explained that my emotional and spiritual immaturity resulted from my inability to see people comprehensively, taking note of their “bad” and “good” parts. It hurt, but it was helpful.

Her wisdom has carried me through a host of conflicts and disappointments over the years. It’s also greatly challenged my view of God. You see, I can tend to focus solely on God’s “savory parts”—His compassion and grace. I’d rather ignore or even erase the parts of Him I find confusing or uncomfortable—like His wrath and judgment. But our God wants to be known, worshiped, and loved comprehensively.

In Ezekiel, God communicates over sixty times that the desired outcome of His actions is to be known as the Lord, Yahweh. In the book of Exodus, He sought to make Himself known through acts of deliverance, and in Ezekiel, He makes Himself known through His acts of judgment. Yes, He is a “compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth…forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin” (Exodus 34:6–7). He also “will not leave the guilty unpunished” (v.7). Like my momma sometimes reminded me that she was not one of my little friends to be trifled with, Yahweh is making it clear that He too is not to be trifled with by Pharoah, Israel, or anyone else. He is a God of grace and truth, compassionate love, and righteous judgment. 

When we isolate His compassionate love from His righteous judgment, we do not see God comprehensively and create Him into an image of our own making. And though we do not intend to split God in two, how many worship songs do we sing about God’s righteous wrath? How many times have we followed a chronological reading plan and said, “I can’t wait to get to Matthew”? When we create this kind of dichotomy in our knowledge and worship of God, we can either go all bad on Him—only seeing Him as a wrathful, or go all good—only acknowledging Him as a gracious Savior. However, He is always both. 

During this Lenten season, we are reminded that at the cross, He graciously saves prideful and idolatrous sinners by pouring out His wrath on Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. However, if we persist in splitting God’s character, we will either cheapen His sacrifice at Calvary or miss it altogether. We must seek to know Him as He has revealed Himself to us in Scripture. 

Post Comments (61)

61 thoughts on "A Prophecy of Egypt’s Ruin"

  1. Lauren Chapman says:

    I understand Gods wrath when you realize the absolute horror of what the people were doing. They were killing their babies as sacrifices. Murder of innocent children. Just to name one. He is a God of justice.

  2. Jessica Fiochetta says:

    Yes! To be honest I have not enjoyed reading the Ezekiel scriptures. The wrath and mysterious parts….I was glossing over, waiting to get to the new testament “love” story scriptures. This is a great reminder and I needed it. Thank you!

  3. Natasha Woodcraft says:

    Such an important truth today and one so easily forgotten or pushed aside. Thank you

  4. Carissa ODonnell says:

    This hits home Heidi. I can understand the parent love and anger and discipline because of that love. This is what my Bible study group keeps bringing me back to. I just have a hard time with all of the graphic destruction and killing… little different than the discipline I delve out to my kids. I do get the lesson though and the patience God had before he had to teach the lesson. Ugh, it’s just so hard for me to swallow.

  5. Carissa ODonnell says:

    Thanks for your response Kelly. It’s good to hear how others see it.

  6. Carissa ODonnell says:

    Thanks Andrea for your insight. I have a lot more Bible studying to do… though I accept Gods sovereignty, it’s still hard for me to completely embrace it sometimes. Something more for me to repent. ❤️

  7. Hannah Culver says:

    Not sure how to edit my comment. **This devotional was amazing,*

  8. Hannah Culver says:

    Wow! This was devotional and Yana’s thoughts were right on point. Wow wow wow ❤️

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