Isaiah 41:14

Isaiah 41:14 says, Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.  God referred to the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, as worms.  They had become a powerless nation, but God told them not to fear because He would help them, I believe once they repented and turned to Hi again.  The song, At The Cross, had a line in it that said, “Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I,” and it was changed to “such sinners such as I,” because it was said that people didn’t want to think of themselves as worms, but this seems a Biblical concept to me.  We should never think more highly of ourselves than God thinks of us, and even if we are compared to a worm in our strength, we as followers of Christ are still protected by God’s powerful hand. 

Verse fifteen adds, Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.  Isaiah said God was going to make Israel a powerful nation once again, saying they would be like a threshing machine with teeth and would thresh the mountains and the hills, making their enemies seem like chaff.  Still, they would only be an instrument in God’s hand when they lived by faith in Him.  We will never be more than an instrument in God’s hand as Christians, but He has already given us the power to defeat any spiritual enemy that we encounter. 

Verse sixteen continues, Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.  Isaiah said that God was going to scatter the enemies of Israel like chaff being scattered in the wind.  As followers of Christ, no  matter how powerful our enemies may seem the are but chaff in the wind as long as we are living in obedience to God and relying on His power to keep us safe. 

Verse seventeen states, When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.  Isaiah said that when the poor and needy sought water and couldn’t find any, that God said He would provide it for them.  As Christians, if we find ourselves spiritually thirsty and unable to find relief, God has already given us Living Water to quench our spiritual thirst.  We can never quench it without relying on Him. 

Verse eighteen adds, I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.  Isaiah said God was going to give the people of Israel who were thirsty an unlimited supply of water.  We as Christians, if we are spiritually dry and thirsty, already have an unlimited supply of Living Water, so we simply need to turn to God and begin to drink our fill. 

Verse nineteen continues. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:  Isaiah said God was going to cause the wilderness to be filled with trees once again.  The world may seem a desolate place for us at times, spiritually if not physically, but once we start living by faith in God, He will cause our lives to flourish spiritually once more.  God will always meet our needs, even if we seem to be surrounded by a wilderness of sin.  

Verse twenty concludes, That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.  Isaiah said that when God did this that the people of Israel would understand that He was the One responsible for their blessings.  As Christians, no matter how blessed we may be materially, we need to realize that all our blessings come from God and give Him the credit and praise Him for all that He has blessed us with.  This is true if we have more than we need or if we are barely having our needs met.  In either case, we need to give God the glory and praise.