ROOTED - Thursday, May 21, 2026

Ezekiel
29:17-20

17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the
first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came
to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and
every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from
Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 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. 20 I
have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because
they worked for me, declares the Lord God.

Reflection:
God’s Sovereignty Over Nations

Written By: Pastor Jesse Caro

Several
years ago, I stopped religiously watching the news as I used to. For the most
part, the news was my entertainment maybe 5 years ago. I discovered that it was
a bit to commanding of my time, and I was a news junkie… an addict of the news
cycle. Mostly I have never watched local news. That was never an object of my
interests. My interests are national and, mostly, political. Today, I am significantly
interested in geopolitics/international politics. But I have curtailed my news
consumption, limiting myself to merely looking at headlines on CNN in the
morning and at night. I will read the headline, and maybe the story, and move
on. I’d say I now dedicate about 10 minutes of time to the news, as opposed to
the couple hours a day of most of my adult life. Having said that, if I allow
myself to think too much about the perils China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba pose, I
could easily spend hours consuming the news. Once again, I am a news junkie.    

We
could debate incessantly (as many people do) why China, for example, is in the
position they are in… clearly the most significant and influential world power (outside
of the US, though that is debatable). Whose administration or party is to
blame? What is the best policy to enact moving forward? What about trade and
tariffs? What about human rights violations? What about the coalition they have
with Russia and what that means for energy? On and on the ball rolls as one
tries to wrap their heads around the vast complexities of a diverse world. Passages
like Ezekiel 29:20 (“I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for
which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God”)
remind us that God has his hands on geopolitics. He is sovereign over the
nations and he establishes kings (Daniel 2:21). We mere humans are incapable of
getting our heads around the complexities, but I rest knowing that God has international
politics all figured out. He is an expert, masterfully coordinating events and
people in ways that suit his ultimate purposes. His ways are far beyond our comprehension
(Romans 11:33) and, therefore, I do not need to fret over local, political, or
geopolitical news.

Prayer

Lord,
help us not to be shaken by the unknowns in the world around us. We rest
knowing that you are sovereign over the affairs of this world.