Wednesday, January
10, 2018
Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob, don’t be afraid, people
of Israel, for I will help you. I am
the Lord, your Redeemer. I am the
Holy One of Israel.’ You will be a new
threshing instrument with many sharp teeth.
You will tear your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains. You will toss them into the air, and the wind
will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them. Then you will rejoice in the Lord. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel. “When the poor and needy search for water and
there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I,
the Lord, will answer them. I, the
God of Israel, will never abandon them. I
will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus. I will give them fountains of water in the
valleys. I will fill the desert with
pools of water. Rivers fed by springs
will flow across the parched ground. I
will plant trees in the barren desert—cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress,
fir, and pine. I am doing this so all
who see this miracle will understand what it means—that it is the Lord who has
done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it. Isaiah 41:14-20(NLT)
Regarding the kingdom of bugs, to the best of my recollection worms do
not tear their enemies apart, tossing them into the air like insignificant
straw for the garbage heap! Neither are
the poor and needy
movers and shakers, and water doesn’t flow upwards to high plateaus, nor pools
of water normally sprout in the desert; most definitely parched ground isn’t a
place to find forests of trees that need water.
By definition, all that stuff falls in the realm of miracle, where the
laws of nature and science are suspended and the opposite of those laws
happen. It takes a miracle to fall
upwards to the sky! It takes that for the
lowly to turn the tables on the mighty!
There are “worm seasons” in all our lives, time when we feel powerless,
or like our time to contribute is gone.
I feel like a worm most Mondays, worn-out from giving out whatever I’ve
got in ministering on Sunday. Conducting
a couple of worship services after an hour’s drive to get to the church can
leave one feeling pretty worm-like the next day. This isn’t what the brochures said about
retirement!
But on the other hand, God’s word to Israel wasn’t about retiring; the
little worm-like nation only felt
like a worm. In the mighty hands of the
Almighty it is of little consequence what the world thinks of you, or even how
you see yourself, when God says even the natural order of the universe will be no
obstacle to what His will is for you!
And the reason God does stuff like that – taking lowly Israel and
elevating them beyond anyone’s imagination – is because He wants there to be no
doubt about Who it is that did such a thing.
He wants to make certain it is clear: God is the author.
For You
Today
Eating
dust lately? Feel a little
worm-like? Powerless? Remember that there is a kingdom coming that
seems pretty far-fetched to those without faith. Everything will change when the Holy One of Israel is behind
it. And if you are His, nothing will
stand in the way of all He has planned for you.
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