Isaiah 41: 8-20

‘’But you, O Israel, my servant…’’ (8a). There is a sharp contrast drawn between God’s people and the other nations (1-7). Israel did not have to fear Cyrus or Babylon, for Cyrus was working for God and Babylon would be no more. God was going to deal with the enemies of His people. The nations being attacked by Cyrus did have cause to fear, but God’s chosen people had no reason to feel afraid or ‘’dismayed’’ for God would ‘’strengthen’’ and ‘’help’’ and ‘’uphold’’ them (8-10). (By the way, the reference in verse 9 is probably to the call Abraham received when he was in Ur. At that time it seemed like the ‘’farthest’’ corner of the earth.) This morning a friend of mine posted a prayer request on ‘Facebook’ for persecuted Christians in Baghdad. He expressed a desire that God would deliver them, just as He did for Israel at the Red Sea. I could only say a hearty ‘Amen’ to that! Here is another passage in the Bible in which God assures His people that He will defeat their enemies (11-16): ‘’I myself will help you’’ He says (14) See how God transforms people and places (14-20):

  • God transforms people (14-16). Israel could be described as a ‘’worm’’ because of her lowly and depressed state in exile. But God will take His weak and helpless people and turn them into instruments of judgment against the nations who oppose them. (In the Bible, threshing and winnowing are pictures of judgment.) Warren Wiersnbe says that ‘’servant’’ defined what they were by God’s grace and calling, but ‘’worm’’ speaks of what they were in themselves. It was what they saw when they looked in the mirror: ‘’Imagine a worm getting teeth and threshing mountains into dust like chaff! As the nation marched ahead by faith, every mountain and hill would be brought low (40:4), and the Lord would turn mountains into molehills!’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (Old Testament), p.1186. God uses small things to accomplish great tasks (1 Corinthians 1:26-27).
  • God transforms places (17-20): These verses call to mind God’s supernatural provision for Israel in the desert. We see God changing the desert into a place of overflowing fertility. This is a totally unexpected scenario. When God does things that people obviously could not do, the glory goes to Him (20).

God can still speak to us in personal ways through these ancient words. They are ‘ever new’. I remember sitting in a house in Bristol early one Sunday morning in 1978. I was in my last year at Bible cottage and had been sent as part of a small team to lead the service at one of my denomination’s largest and most renowned churches. It was my responsibility to speak at the morning service, to a bigger crowd than I had ever stood before previously. I rose early to finalise my preparations, and as I sat on that sofa in a home where I was a guest, I saw a ‘worm’ reflected in the mirror. But as I recall it the words in (13, 14) brought encouragement to me, and I truly did know God’s help.

‘’All this stands against a realistic background of an Israel cowed (e.g. vs 10-11) and puny (e.g. v 14), a fit starting point for God’s grace. A threshing-sledge, by contrast, was the most solid of objects, being made of heavy boards, flint-studded; it was dragged over the reaped corn to break open the ears, which were then winnowed by tossing them to allow the husks to be blown away (16). The huge scale of the metaphor must have seemed belied by the ‘day of small things’ that followed the return from Babylon, yet it does not exaggerate the importance of God’s people on the world, past and to come.’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, pp.656, 657.

Prayer: Lord I need your help today. I am nothing without you. Make me your sharp instrument.