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Isaiah 41.13-20 ‘I myself will help you’


This sermon was first preached at the 09:30 service on Thursday 11 December 2014.

Hidden Gems

Have you ever found something important or valuable, that you didn’t know you had? I can remember watching the Antiques Roadshow on a Sunday evening with my parents when I was growing up. There was always a mix of people who knew all about what they had brought, from personal research and so on – and people who had no idea that their item was rare or valuable. Cash in the Attic is another one of those programmes.

Perhaps it isn’t a thing you discovered, but a talent or a gift you never realised you had? Since starting my relationship with Jess last year, I have discovered I am really good at picking jewellery! Since I plucked up the courage, I’ve bought Jess necklaces and earrings – and of course, her engagement ring. And they have all been an instant hit, not only with her, but also with her very discerning auntie. It is a talent I never knew I had!

When Isaiah spoke to the people of Israel, they were in big trouble. There were big nations surrounding them, expanding empires, and they were a small nation stuck in the middle.

The question was: what would they do? Would they try and hold their own in battle, as they did under King David? Or would they forge an alliance with a stronger nation; stand with an old enemy against a new one? Either would be sensible in the world’s eyes – you can’t give in to bullies. And in fact, the kings of Israel took the second choice, signing treaties with their enemies.

‘I myself will help you’

‘But no,’ Isaiah says to his fellow Israelites, ‘that isn’t who we are. We are different, because God has chosen us’ (8). God speaks these words through Isaiah:

‘But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you descendants of Abraham my friend,
I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.’

Isaiah 41.8-9a (NIV)

Compared to the great empires around, the people of Israel think of their country as a ‘worm‘, ‘little‘ in the eyes of the world (14). But God chose them, their country, for no reason except that he loved them; he chose them to show the world a different way, that relies on him and him alone.

I have to say that these verses contain one of the great promises in the whole Bible: God says to Israel (14), ‘Do not be afraid... for I myself will help you.’ [Repeat]

And who makes that promise? None other than the God who can make water flow – even pool – in the desert (18)! Now, I am no gardener, but even I know that it doesn’t matter how much hard work you put into digging, planting, pruning and trimming – if you don’t have water, you are just wasting your breath.

And something that needs lots of water, is a tree. There’s a reason why you don’t get many trees in the desert – except around pools of water. Here God promises to make rivers flow (18), and trees like the cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, juniper, fir and cypress (19) grow together on barren heights (18) and parched ground (19).

And actually, that’s how God works: bringing water to the desert, life out of death, so we’d be in no doubt he was behind it (20). He doesn’t work by taking us out of tough situations, but by transforming them – and us in and through them.

The question is: what do you do when faced with difficulties, when your life is like barren heights or parched ground? How do you respond to the things that threaten to overwhelm you?

Isaiah’s advice to the people is difficult to hear, but ultimately the best way, because it is God’s way. Don’t try to run away from the desert, he says. Don’t try to pretend everything is ok, and don’t try to fix it in your own strength.

Instead, Isaiah says, stay in the desert, but trust in God to bring light where there is darkness, pools of water where there is parched ground, and life where there is death. Don’t abandon the faith, but be stronger in the faith, when troubles come.

‘Do not be afraid, for I myself will help you,’ says the Lord. I don’t know about you, but he’s all the help I could want, or ever need. It’s my prayer that all of us – myself included – would learn more and more, and every day, to trust in his strength, and not try to make it on our own.