On this morning after the night before, it’s a phrase in Ezekiel that’s captured my attention.

Context? The Lord God’s judgment against Egypt. “I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,” declares the LORD through the prophet (Ezek. 29:3). How come? “Because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel” (Ezek. 29:6b). You’ve been a flimsy crutch for my people (MSG). “When they gripped you, you splintered and cut their hand, and when they leaned on you, you broke and sent them sprawling” (Ezek. 29:7 MSG). Your pseudo-power and your illusory wisdom became a hope for a people who had stopped hoping in me. And so, says the LORD, while I will restore you after I have judged you, you will be “the most lowly of the kingdoms” so that you “shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel” who sinned by turning to you for aid (Ezek. 29:15-16).

(Hmm . . . not my main thought but if Egypt is a picture of the world — and it is — then I’m seeing a connection between this and something I read in 1John this morning . . . “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. . . And the world is passing away along with its desires . . .” (1John 2:15, 17a) )

Back to our context. God is going to judge Egypt, Israel’s “staff made of reed.” And how? With another world-dominating power (aka flimsy crutch), Babylon. Who’s Babylon? Well, she works for God.

“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for Me, declares the Lord GOD.”

(Ezekiel 29:19-20 ESV)

They worked for me . . . That’s what I’m chewing on.

Nebuchadnezzar, kind of Babylon, worked for the Lord GOD of heaven. As Peterson puts it, “He’s been working for Me all these years without pay.” A reminder that earthly sovereigns are but servants of the one and only true Sovereign. Earthly kings but contracted labor for the king of Kings. Earthly presidents just promoted personnel for the purposes of the One who “rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will” (Daniel 4:17).

In case you missed it, there was an election last night. A new (old) ruler chosen by the people for the people. A new (old) government’s coming to town. And, says the LORD, “They work for Me.”

That’s our hope isn’t it? Not a red hope, not a blue hope, but a “they worked for Me” hope.

Our trust not in any government but in Him who governs all. Our peace not in any president, but in the Him who presides overall. Our path forward not found in a party’s policies but in God’s prevailing promises. Not relying on any ideological platform but resting in a loving God’s purposes. Our confidence not in how good our leaders are, but in how good our God is. Knowing, and believing, what our heavenly Father declares, “They worked for Me.”

It’s the morning after the night before . . .

By His grace. For His glory.