Do you know how God brings a nation to its knees? Isaiah 18-22

Isaiah 19:10-12 (NASBStr)

And the pillars of Egypt will be crushed;

All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.

 The princes of Zoan are mere fools;

The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid.

How can you men say to Pharaoh,

“I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?

 Well then, where are your wise men?

Please let them tell you,

And let them understand what the Lord of hosts

Has purposed against Egypt.

In this section of Isaiah, the prophet is speaking about the future of nations that have been evil to Jerusalem (the nation of Israel), but at the same time nations Jerusalem has sought refuge.  God will condemn and destroy those surrounding nations for their evil ways and their treatment of Jerusalem, just as He will destroy Jerusalem (chapter 22).  In the above section we read about Egypt.    We recall Egypt from the days of Moses.   Egypt, of all the nations, should be well versed in the ways of The Lord.   God had, through Moses staff, brought them low once before.   Here, according to Isaiah, He is about to do it again.   But, this time it will not be through plagues necessarily.  This time God is simply going to make the counsel that is spoken in Pharaoh's ear to become vague, twisted and stupid.  God could (and will, on some other countries) visit Egypt with great destruction of hell-fire-and-brimestone!   Yet, He can also bring a nation to its knees simply by sending it false counsel.  Remember the story of Balaam and you see a great example how the counsel of just one man can cause an entire nation to stumble.   After Solomon's death, his son, Rehoboam, was given evil counsel by his childhood friends and their suggestions split the kingdom of Israel.   He listened to them despite the warning In Proverbs chapter one, written by his own father, to be aware of the counsel of the ungodly.  They only wish we join them in the violence.  Note further one of Solomon's warnings:

Proverbs 16:29 (NASBStr)

A man of violence entices his neighbor

And leads him in a way that is not good.

God can humble an entire nation via poor advice from their trusted counselors.   He can use thunder, but He can get the same effect through a whisper.   God is not mocked.  He will return onto others their failures of following Him.   But, as we watch the nations today toil and spin, think not God needs a firm vice to turn them.  He can do the same thing with a small, quiet voice.