Streams in the Desert - Mar 15

Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob. . . . I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. (Isaiah 41: 14– 15)

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Could any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and a threshing tool with sharp teeth? A worm is delicate and is easily bruised by a stone or crushed beneath a passing wheel. Yet a threshing tool with sharp teeth can cut through rock and not be broken, leaving its mark upon the rock. And almighty God can convert one into the other. He can take an individual or a nation, who has all the weakness of a worm, and through the energizing work of His own Spirit, endow that person or nation with strength enough to make a profound mark upon the history of their time.

Therefore a “worm” may take heart. Almighty God can make us stronger than our circumstances and can turn each situation to our good. In God’s strength we can make them all pay tribute to our soul. We can even take the darkest disappointment, break it open, and discover a precious jewel of grace inside. When God gives us an iron will, we can cut through difficulties just as an iron plowshare cuts through the hardest soil. As He said in the above verse, “I will make you. . . .” Will He not do it?
~John Henry Jowett

Christ is building His kingdom with the broken things of earth. People desire only the strong, successful, victorious, and unbroken things in life to build their kingdoms, but God is the God of the unsuccessful— the God of those who have failed. Heaven is being filled with earth’s broken lives, and there is no “bruised reed” (Isa. 42: 3) that Christ cannot take and restore to a glorious place of blessing and beauty. He can take a life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it a harp whose music will be total praise. He can lift earth’s saddest failure up to heaven’s glory.
~J. R. Miller

“Follow Me, and I will make you . . .”
Make you speak My words with power,
Make you vessels of My mercy,
Make you helpful every hour.
“Follow Me, and I will make you . . .”
Make you what you cannot be—
Make you loving, trustful, godly,
Make you even just like Me.
~L. S. P.

Reference

Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (p. 116). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

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