The Theology of a Worm

“Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 41:14

The Bible’s wisdom and the world’s are at loggerheads. The world celebrates the “self-made man”; Jesus teaches that “the first shall be last and the last first.” The world views the self-confident, self-satisfied man as successful, but the Bible says that God opposes him and will bring him down. It is the way of humility that, paradoxically, leads upward! The man who has been humbled by God has been set on the pathway of blessing. Such a man need not fear; he has every reason to be confident in God his Savior!

Old Testament Israel is an object lesson. In Isaiah’s day she had grown proud, haughty. God therefore warned his people through the prophet,

“‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.’ . . . Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing” (Isaiah 40:6-8, 15-17).

When Israel failed to repent, the Lord subjected her to severe chastisements, even Babylonian captivity. Later, In Isaiah 41, we discover Israel’s consequent self-evaluation: “. . . O worm Jacob, O little Israel . . . the poor and needy” (v. 14, 17). She had come to her senses, she had humbled herself, she was now ready to receive God’s mercies! Therefore God could speak words of comfort: “Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel.”

Dear Christian, have you ever felt like a worm, about to be trampled upon and crushed? Do you feel insignificant, as though God has rejected you? The truth is, God has not rejected you nor can he do so. God is here to help the poor and needy. He does not help those who are arrogant, who think they are competent to save themselves. But he promises to strengthen all who acknowledge their weaknesses and failures before the sovereign Savior. Let us, then, examine the reasons why every humble, needy Christian can be confident in God, why he need not ever be afraid!

Do not be afraid!

1. God Is the Lord of HistoryYahweh, and Yahweh alone, is the Lord of history. Isaiah 41 tells us that idols and idolaters can do nothing: “Present your case,” says the Lord. “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King. “Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable” (vv. 21 – 24). Our God controls the entire course of history for his glory and for his eternal purposes. And he has purposed to save a people for himself.

   No ruler can appear on the world stage of history unless the God of history appoints and calls him. In 700 B.C. Isaiah prophesied Cyrus’ ascension to the Persian throne. In 559 B.C. Cyrus became the king of Anshan, a small city by the Persian Gulf. In 539 B.C. he completed 20 years of unparalleled conquest with the utter defeat of Babylon. In 538 B.C. he issued his decree enabling the exiles of Israel to return to their own country. Cyrus served the purposes of God; the Lord is the all-controlling Lord of history!

   If God controls history, and God’s purpose is to save us, is there any reason for us to fear? No. If God is for us, who can be against us? So in Isaiah 41:10, 13, and 14 we find the injunction: “Do not fear.” God has predicted the rise and fall of many world empires-Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. But no kingdom can prevent the Lord of history from saving his people. Eventually God will destroy all rivals and he alone will exercise dominion over the earth.

2. God Is Our KingIn Isaiah 41:21 we read, “‘Set forth your arguments,’ says Jacob’s King.” The Lord of history is also our King. “Our God reigns!” the Bible declares, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are also enabled to own him as our King when we confess, “Jesus is Lord.”

   As the mighty King, God defeats all our enemies. In Isaiah 41:11-12 we read,

   All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.

   Why do we have enemies? Because we stand for truth. But our King deals with them and makes them as nothing. He is the mighty warrior whom no Pharaoh can resist. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him, and there shall be no end to the increase of his government and peace. Little Israel, worm Jacob, listen to your Sovereign: “Be not afraid! No one will crush you. Your King will protect you.”

3. God Keeps His CovenantIn Isaiah 41:10 and 13 the Lord states, “I am your God.” This is the language of covenant: “I am your God and you are my people.” Our God is the great “I Am,” the sovereign Savior who keeps his covenant with his people. He may chasten us, but he will never break his covenant with us. The God who kept his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our God also; thus, we have no reason to fear. He is, as Isaac Watts wrote, “our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.”
4. God Is with UsIn Isaiah 41:10 the Lord continues, “I am with you.” In Hebrew it is “with you I am,” emphasizing the fact that he is with us. Not only is God the transcendent holy Other, but he is also the immanent God who is with us, Immanuel, our present help in trouble. He was with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua. He was with his people Israel as he redeemed them out of Egypt and brought them to Canaan. He was with them above the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. Having God with us makes all the difference.

   Later in Israel’s life she became subject to the Midianites. In Judges 6:14 God encouraged Gideon, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” Gideon asked, “But Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (v. 15). Gideon had a proper self-assessment: “Lord, I am a worm, a little Jacob, a nothing; the Midianites are numerous and mighty. What can I do?” But the Lord told Gideon, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together” (v. 16). It is not the worm that makes the difference; it is the presence of God with the worm. If God is with us, we will be victorious.

   On the Day of Pentecost, the Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit to be with us forever. God is in us, God is upon us, God is all around us, and God goes before us. As Jesus told his disciples, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Though we are worm Jacob, little Israel, we need not fear!

5. God Helps UsGod promises in Isaiah 41: 10, “I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” In the Hebrew these verbs are expressed in the perfect tense, which means that God has irrevocably determined to do these very things. What God has determined, he performs, and no power in the universe can stop him. We are weak, but he is strong. We fall down, but he picks us up. We are hungry, but he gives us food. We lack wisdom, but he gives us wisdom. We are sinful, but he is holy and makes us holy. We are mortal, but he makes us immortal.

   In verse 13 God says, “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear.'” What a wonderful picture! As children of God, we do not know which way to go. But our Father takes our hand and tells us, “Do not fear!” No one is able to take away our security and salvation; neither death nor life nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God. Do you feel the divine grip of the Father and the Son?

   In Isaiah 41:10 God says, “I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” He strengthens us when we are weary and not able to move on just as he strengthened Moses during battle with the Amalekites (Ex 17). As long as Moses kept his hands lifted up, the Israelites prevailed, but when his arms drooped, the Amalekites began to win. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for Moses to sit on and supported Moses’ hands until Israel won the battle.

   So it is with us. We get tired and worn out, but we have One who upholds us, one who is greater than Aaron and Hur. Our Good Shepherd gathers his lambs and carries them close to his heart. Fear not and be not dismayed; God will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us.

6. God Is Our RedeemerIn verse 14 we read, “Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” God is our Redeemer! The word “redeemer,” which appears thirteen times in Isaiah, is the most important word in salvation history. When Isaiah says that God is our Redeemer, he is proclaiming that God is the protector of his family, the kinsman who willingly takes upon himself all the needs of his next-of-kin.

   We were sinners by birth and by choice, paupers who had lost everything. The wrath of God was upon us and we were bound for hell. Who could save us from the judgment to come? Only our rich relative, the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is able, wise, mighty, and willing to redeem us. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Little Israel, worm Jacob, do not be anxious: God is your Redeemer.

7. God Changes UsThe Lord declares in verse 15, “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.” In the Hebrew text it is, “I will make of you. . . .” God promises to change us! Yes, we are worms, but God is able to transform worms into brand-new, mighty threshing sledges.

   How can this be? In Zechariah 4:7, Zerubbabel is told, “What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground.” How? The answer is given in verse 6: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” In Acts 4 we see Peter, an uneducated, untrained fisherman, giving powerful witness to the gospel before the Sanhedrin. Why? He had received what Jesus promised: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” The members of the Sanhedrin were astonished when they “saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men.” God takes a weak worm and turns him into a threshing sledge which is quite capable of overcoming all obstacles.

   The weaker the worm, the better! “When I am weak, then I am strong,” Paul confesses in 2 Corinthians 12:10. The apostle even boasted in his weakness; he knew that his weaknesses qualified him to receive God’s divine strength. He expands on this theme in 2 Corinthians 4: 7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay. . . .” Clay stands in contrast to gold; it refers to our human weakness. But then Paul tells us why God puts gospel treasure in frail human beings: “to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (PGM) God looks with favor on those who humble themselves before him. In verse 8 Paul says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” We are clay, but God’s power transforms us into threshing machines; we can resist the devil and he shall flee from us. Therefore, worm Jacob, little Israel, fear not!

8. God Answers PrayerGod answers our prayers: “The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them” (Isaiah 41:17). “The poor and needy search[ing] for water”-this describes our spiritual condition. God meets the needs of those who thirst and lack water. And he does so in wonderfully miraculous ways! We read in verse 18, “I will make rivers flow on barren heights.” Rivers do not naturally flow on wilderness heights. But God hears the prayers of his people and provides water for them in the most unlikely places. In Exodus 17 we read that God made water come out of another unlikely place-a rock. Our God is an awesome God!

   Desert travelers also need shade. So God responds again, saying, “I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together” (v. 19). These seven types of trees speak about a kind of garden of Eden, created by God in behalf of his people. The desert is blossoming and blooming; God is telling us, “I am the God who hears and answers prayer; therefore, you worm, you little Jacob, you poor and needy people, do not be afraid or dismayed.”

9. God Teaches Us Who We Are

The Bible teaches us that every self-confessed “worm” who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ is a “new creation”; his “life is now hidden with Christ in God.” We are a new people, people who are:

a. Chosen by God

God declares in Isaiah 41:8, “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen.” We are God’s “chosen,” his elect. We do not understand everything God does, but we know this much: though all people deserve damnation, the Lord chooses some to be saved while passing over others. Why are “some” chosen? Paul answers in Titus 3:4-5, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Why did he choose us? Because he loved us!

Paul speaks about this electing love in Ephesians 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him,” that is, in Jesus Christ, “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” What an amazing statement! If we are chosen by God, we do not need to worry about a thing. Then Paul says, “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” Why did he do all this? It is in accordance with his love, with the pleasure of his will.

Yes, we are worms, but we are God’s worms, chosen by him. God has committed himself to us forever and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly realms. We are chosen, we are blessed, and we shall be made holy and blameless before God to enjoy eternal fellowship with him. So, worm Jacob, fear not! Be not dismayed! Know who you are in Christ Jesus.

b. Effectually Called By God

Those whom God has chosen from all eternity are also called by him in time. And so God says in Isaiah 41:9 concerning Abraham, “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.” When God called Abraham, what did Abraham do? He came out and left his “country and kindred and father’s house.” This is the effectual call of God!

When God calls us by the gospel, we come out of the world, trust in Jesus Christ alone, and are planted in his church. In fact, the Greek word for church, ekklêsia, means the company of those who are called out. The church, whose Head is Jesus Christ, is holy, separated from the world, belonging to God. What a high calling this is!

c. God’s Servants

God declares in Isaiah 41:8, “But you, O Israel, my servant . . .” This is the first time the word “servant” appears in Isaiah, but we find it repeated throughout the remainder of Isaiah’s prophecy. “My servant!” God uses this term to encourage us, because to be a servant of God is a high calling, a position of great dignity. Jesus himself, the servant of God par excellence, was given this title. The unbeliever is a servant of the devil, but we worship and serve God.

God Almighty has committed himself to protect those who are his servants. In Isaiah’s day if a servant was molested or harmed in any way, the person harming the servant had to answer to the servant’s master. Thus, when God says we are his servants, he is warning, “If anybody touches or harms you, he must answer to me.” Our Master will take action against our enemies! Jesus’ confrontation of Saul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9 is one example: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The risen Lord takes persecution against the church personally! Little Israel, worm Jacob, fear not!

d. God’s Friends

In Isaiah 41:8 we also find the phrase, “you descendants of Abraham, my friend.” The term “my friend” in Hebrew means “my lover,” describing the person whom I love and who loves me. God loves us and we are his friends, even as Abraham was. Elsewhere we are called the bride of Christ, which also speaks about love!

In the upper room Jesus told his disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:14-15). “Friends” means heart-to-heart communion. If married people are also friends there will be tremendous communion. Love always communicates- it’s automatic!

Because we are his friends, the transcendent, eternal, infinite God fellowships with us. What a condescension: God dwells with human beings! And so the Scriptures say, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Therefore we need not fear.

e. God’s Children

In Isaiah 41:13 God tells us, “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.'” We picture a mother or father who takes hold of the right hand of the child and leads him along. Whatever problems the child faces along the way will be taken care of by the parent.

We are the children of God! Do you by faith feel the grasp of God’s hand in yours? He also encourages us, saying, “Fear not.” We can speak to him about all our problems and he reassures us, “Fear not. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will lift you up.” Do you hear God’s comforting words?-they are found particularly in the Bible. The Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God.

Freedom from Fear

What is the result of believing God’s promises? No fear! In Isaiah 41:16 we read that worm Jacob, little Israel, is no longer afraid: “But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.”

God promises to transform weak worms into powerful threshing sledges. Jesus told his disciples, “”You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we can resist the devil and he will flee from us. Nothing will make us afraid. Throughout the history of the church the people of God have been enabled to face persecution and martyrdom without fear.

There is another enemy within us-the fear caused by sin. But the Bible says perfect love for Jesus Christ casts out fear. “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). To such people who repent God also says, “Do not fear.”

God thus issues a wonderful, absolute command, “Be not afraid!” Yes, we are tempted to be afraid-fear of loneliness, fear of losing our livelihood, fear of sickness, fear of the unknown, fear of divorce, fear of rejection, fear of failure, and fear of death. But God says to us, “Fear not! I am your God. In all of these concerns I will be with you to strengthen you, help you, and uphold you. I will hold your right hand and speak to your heart.” This is freedom from fear!

What if you have never believed in Jesus Christ? Then God’s word to you is, “Fear!” You must fear the Day of Judgment that is surely coming. You will have no help, no strength, no encouragement; your own friends and family will abandon you on that day. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ, come to him, confess to him, and humble yourself before him today. I pray that you will trust in him, believe in him, and live for him. Then you also will hear the gracious words of God: “Fear not. I am with you. I am your God and your Redeemer.” Amen.