Our Source of Strength

"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.

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.

I have always loved that the Lord called Jacob a "worm," and Israel, "little."  Like Therese of Liseux, I have always felt myself to be "little," the opposite of a "mighty warrior of God."  Therese recognized that in herself, she had no strength "to climb the rough stairway of sanctity." Instead, she compared herself to a toddler trying to lift its foot to the first stair.  She said that Jesus, seeing her helplessness, had compassion on her and descended the stairway to carry her up to His Father.

Throughout the Old Testament, God tells the Israelites that it was not because they were "the largest of nations" that He chose them, but because they were the "smallest."  In them, He could show forth His glory because it was so obvious to the nations around them that they had no strength or power of their own.  They, in fact, were a laughing-stock among the nations, until their God, Yahweh, took ahold of their "right hand" and led them out of Egypt into the desert.  There, He fed them with manna and gave them water from the rock.  On their journey, they requested permission to pass through the territories of nations more powerful than they were.  They promised to take nothing along the way, nor to "turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well."  But some of the more powerful nations would not allow them passage and instead went out to conquer this small people.  What they discovered was that Yahweh, their God, would defend them in battle, and that Israel instead would "settle in the land of the Amorites" (Numbers 21:21-31). 

Gradually, the "dread of Israel" settled upon the surrounding nations, and they began to call forth spiritual forces to defeat Israel.  (Read Numbers 22.)  Balak, King of Moab, calls forth Balaam, a seer, to curse the Israelites so they can be defeated in battle.  Balaam, however, is forced to say, "God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox" (Numbers 23:22).  Now, the "worm" Jacob and "little" Israel has become "a wild ox."

Many years later, the prophet Isaiah is to remind Israel of their Source of strength:

Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all you who remain of the house of Israel,

you whom I have upheld since you were conceived,

and have carried since your birth.

Even to your old age and gray hairs,

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you (46:3-4)

Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  To be "meek" is to put our trust in God instead of in our own strength.  To be "meek" is to know that we are "a worm" when it comes to accomplishing great deeds, but to also know that we have a God-sent Savior, who has promised to make Israel a "light to the world."  As Isaiah says,

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint (Is. 40:29-31).

It is so good to know that even though we ourselves are small and weak, that He is able to do great things and to renew our strength.  Our hope in in the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.