Scripture Daily

Context No. 3381 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 41:1-16: in context

1“Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let’s meet together for judgment. 2Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands over nations to him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow. 3He pursues them and passes by safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet. 4Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he.” 5The islands have seen, and fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach, and come. 6Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, “Be strong!” 7So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good;” and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter. 8“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend, 9you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’ 10Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. 11Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish. 12You will seek them, and won’t find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. 13For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you.’ 14Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff. 16You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the LORD. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

After challenging the nations and their idols, God turns to speak tenderly to his own: but you, Israel my servant, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend. And then come the words that have steadied countless hearts: fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Notice how he addresses them: fear not, you worm Jacob. Small, weak, of no account in the world's eyes, and yet he promises to make even this worm a threshing instrument that levels mountains. God's help does not wait for us to become strong; it comes precisely to the weak and fearful, the worm, and makes them able for what they never could be on their own. Their Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, and he takes them by the right hand. Fear not, then, not because we are strong, but because he is with us and holds us fast.

When I feel small and weak like the worm Jacob, do I hear God's "fear not, I am with you," and trust him to strengthen and uphold me for what I cannot do alone?

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