Good morning. A few weeks ago, we were considering Isaiah. Remember, we spoke on that little word, Sion? I thought that was the end of it, but one little phrase has come back again and again in my heart and mind.
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel;
I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth;
thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the whirlwind shall scatter them:
and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,
thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.— Isaiah 41:14-16
These are the words that I particularly want to bring to you this morning: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.”
The third thing I want to underline this morning is the necessity for the Holy Spirit to reveal our worm-like character.
You see, I think this whole matter has tremendous bearing upon the situation in which we find ourselves at present, individually and collectively.
We always think that if the Lord is going to do any great work, if He is going to use us in any way for the salvation of others, to help others, or to make a tremendous contribution to the building of the house of God, then we are going to feel wonderful. We are going to feel very strong.
We all know self-sufficiency is wrong, but we somehow have an idea of a spiritual self-sufficient state. In the natural realm, strength is something you can feel. You can see it in the way a person walks, bears himself, and tackles things.
We have the idea that spiritual strength is something we ought to be able to feel. If the Lord is going to use us, then we are going to know it. We wait and wait for some wonderful feeling to break in upon us, and imagine that suddenly we shall become conscious of the power of the Lord.
We make our greatest mistake there.
The Lord, whenever He does anything with any single person or with any company, has to bring them into a place where they lose every idea of being strong or being usable. They come to the place where they are conscious of their utter weakness.
A worm belongs to the earth. It is under the earth. It crawls along. It has no strength or force in itself. It is something weak, yielding, and apparently insignificant.
There is an awful amount of talk about Pentecost. People often dwell upon one side of it: power, strength, and mighty works. But think of the disciples.
When those days came, they had passed through terrible experiences. They had followed One whom they believed to be the Messiah, and now He had been crucified. They were humiliated before the world. Their confidence had collapsed.
The Lord had to send special messages to them in order to bring them back. He had to convince them afresh. They came to the place where they knew their weakness.
The self-sufficient person does not know much about fear. But when the Lord brings us to the place where self-sufficiency no longer works, and we know our own weakness and helplessness, then fear enters.
That is the Lord’s way. When He has something very definitely in view—something vastly important to Himself—He brings His servants to the end of themselves.
The Lord never yet gave to any man, woman, or company a real deposit or function in His purpose without first dealing deeply with self-confidence and self-reliance.
This whole question of coming to the place where the Lord can say to us, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob,” means that we have had a deep experience of what it is to be a worm.
The Lord does not use words easily or lightly, as many of us do. He does not call people worms merely because it sounds humble or spiritual. If He calls us worms, it is because we have come to know something of our own helplessness.
Sometimes the Lord uses many different experiences. Some of us have a stronger natural background than others. We are more definite people, and generally speaking such people are the Lord’s greater difficulty.
When the Lord deals with us, there is often something in our natural character that He has first to break. That can be very difficult.
The Lord has many ways of bringing us to the place where we come to experience what we really are. Until we do, we shall never get to the place to which the Lord wants to bring us.
Now, I wonder whether I am speaking to anyone in that condition. You have come to the conclusion that you are so lacking in life. You ask, “What is the good of talking about it? What is the good of speaking about the purpose of God? What difference does it make?”
But I want you to know that the Lord brings together two very remarkable things: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob,” and, “I have made thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.”
If there are two things in the world that are utterly unlike, it is a worm and a sharp threshing instrument having teeth.
On one side, you have a sharp threshing instrument, a powerful implement with teeth. On the other side, you have a worm. There are no two things more utterly unlike.
Most of us put it the wrong way round. We say, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and you shall become a sharp threshing instrument.” But that is not what the Lord says.
He says, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob; I have made thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.”
That is one of the great paradoxes of the Lord. When we are feeling most like worms, we are in a position for God to make us His instrument.
Do you not think that often the Lord brings us to the place where we know what we are—the hopelessness of what we are and the helplessness of what we are—so that we shall wait upon Him in faith?
Faith does not say, “If I feel strong, then perhaps I can serve the Lord.” Faith says, “Though I feel like a worm, the Lord has said, ‘I have made thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.’”
We must believe what the Lord says, rather than argue with Him from the standpoint of our own natural weakness.
We discover the power of the Holy Spirit not in feeling and not in sensation, but in faith.
Faith is the key to every movement of the Spirit of God. If we are going to remain in the position of mere feeling, we shall never move forward.
Now, do not get me wrong. I do not say that the Lord has nothing to do. But faith rests in the fact that there is Christ enough. There is no impossibility with Him.
The principle of God is this: use the little you have, and you will receive more. When you give the little you have, you receive more.
This is true of money. It is true of time. It is true of everything. Those who say they have no time to give to the Lord often find that they have less and less time. But those who deliberately give to the Lord discover that He makes room.
We do what we have, and when we do what we have, we receive more.
It comes down to this central question: Do we believe God? Do we believe that the way of surrender and faith is the way of increase?
“Thou worm Jacob, I have made thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.”
The threshing instrument and the worm go together. The instrument has to be used. It is no good waiting until you feel ready. You must act upon the Word of God.
The last thing I want you to note is this: when the Lord has brought us down to the place of the worm, the first thing He says is, “Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small.”
Mountains represent massive difficulties. Where there are no difficult problems, there is little occasion for the work of God to be manifested.
The Lord has mountains, and He makes a way through them. “I will make all my mountains a way” (Isaiah 49:11).
Remember the word to Zerubbabel:
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.
— Zechariah 4:7
If we are in any way engaged in the work of God, particularly in these days of recovery, we are going to meet mountains—great and high mountains.
There may be difficulties in your own life, at work, in your home, or in your relationships. There may be difficulties in the wider work of God. There are huge and seemingly impossible difficulties in our country and in the nations.
Yet the Lord says to the company of worms, “I have made thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.”
He sets us upon the difficulty. He uses us to thresh the mountains.
“You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away.” The difficulties will not remain as permanent mountains. Through faith and obedience, the Lord deals with them.
It is a beautiful thing. You are being used to win.
I wish that we all had such an attitude toward our difficulties. I do not say that difficulties are easy, but I wish we had the faith to say, “Here is a mountain; the Lord has made me His instrument in relation to it.”
There is something in that mountain which, when the Lord has dealt with it, will never be the same again. Something will remain as a testimony to His faithfulness.
You may go through even a small difficulty, and it may seem to leave something in you for the rest of your life. You cannot fully explain it, but there is a deeper knowledge of the Lord.
This is not merely for a little local company. It applies to larger situations as well. Look at the great powers and pressures in the world today. The Lord is able to deal with the mountains.
“And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord; thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.”
We do not normally associate joy and glory with a worm. But that is the paradox of the work of God. When we have been brought down to that place, the Lord Himself becomes our joy and our glory.
Lord Jesus, Thou hast been at work amongst us all—in our various homes, jobs, relationships, and with one another—to bring us to the place where we may truthfully be described as worms.
But, O Lord, we pray that Thou wouldst make us those who believe Thy Word: “Behold, I have made thee.”
O Lord, give us faith to believe firmly and wholly in what Thou hast made us in the Lord Jesus.
We thank Thee for the Holy Spirit. We thank Thee for the might of the Holy Spirit within us.
Lord, we pray that when we feel most hopeless and most helpless, we shall be found standing in all that the Holy Spirit is within us.
When we feel most weak, may we be found, Lord, as those who believe what God has said.
O Lord, make us a people who love Thy commandments and who believe Thy Word. Make us a people who stand in living faith upon Thy Word, rather than interpreting everything merely by our experience.
Bring us to the place where personal, individual, and corporate difficulties are made small, and where the end is joy and glory in Thee. Amen.