Trust
Introduction
Fear is one of the most basic things about us. From a child lying awake in the dark, to an applicant waiting outside an interview room, to someone stepping into a pulpit, fear always looks ahead and asks, “What if?” What if I lose my health, my job, my spouse, my child? Fear imagines a future where what we treasure is threatened, and our instinctive response is to reach for control. Modern life is built on the promise that, with enough technology, medicine, and planning, we can tame the world and secure our future. But has it worked? We are more advanced than ever and yet riddled with anxiety. So where do we turn for lasting help when we are afraid?
Isaiah 41 speaks into the fears of God’s people. They had just been told they would go into exile (Isaiah 39). Families would be torn apart, homes destroyed, the very question of God’s faithfulness would seem to hang in the balance. In Isaiah 40–41 God answers their fear, not by minimizing danger but by revealing his character. The message is simple and steady: when you are afraid, remember God is sovereign, and God is with you.
First, We See That God Is Sovereign
Isaiah 41 opens and closes with a courtroom scene (verses 1–7, 21–29). God summons the nations and their gods into court and asks one question: who is really in control of history? In Isaiah’s day people assumed that when one nation defeated another, its god had defeated the other nation’s god. Babylon thought its gods had beaten Yahweh by conquering Judah. But in the courtroom of Isaiah 41, the nations are silent. There is no clever speech before this Judge, only mouths stopped, as Romans 3 pictures.
To expose their emptiness, God points to a coming figure called “one from the east” and “from the north” (Isaiah 41:2, 25). Later this man is named as Cyrus, king of Persia (Isaiah 44). Long before he was born, God describes his rise: he will crush kings, overthrow Babylon, and send exiles home (fulfilled as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36). The Babylonian gods, who boasted that they could read the future in animal entrails, never saw Cyrus coming. But God speaks of him as if his victories were already in the history books. God stirs the nations the way you might stir a cup of tea, and empires rise and fall.
How do the nations respond to this threat? Isaiah 41:5–7 gives us a tragic picture. Seeing Cyrus on the horizon, they kick their idol factories into overdrive. Craftsmen strengthen goldsmiths; they nail down their statues so they will not topple. The idols cannot strengthen their worshipers; the worshipers must strengthen their idols. That is always how it works. An idol is anything we look to for our good and our refuge; anything we trust to keep us safe or make us whole. It may be money, career, romance, success, comfort, reputation—or, in our day, the glowing device we treat as indispensable. These things promise control, but they quietly take control of us. We prop them up, and they leave us exhausted.
At the end of the chapter, God calls the idols back to the stand (Isaiah 41:21–29). He challenges them: tell us what will happen, or at least explain what has already happened, or simply do something—good or bad—to prove you are real. There is only silence. So God gives his verdict: they are nothing, their work less than nothing, and those who choose them are an abomination. To choose nothing over the living God is to declare that he is worthless, and to bring judgment on ourselves. Our problem is not just that we do bad things; we have worshiped false gods. We need more than self-improvement. We need a new heart and a Savior.
The good news is that God has provided such a Savior. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the judgment idolaters deserve. On the cross he was treated as detestable, though he had never once turned from his Father. God raised him from the dead, proving the penalty was paid and opening the way for forgiveness and new life to all who turn from their idols to him. We do not add Jesus as a more powerful tool to get what we already wanted; we bow to him as Lord, surrendering control and finding a peace no idol can give. Unlike our idols, he can truly say, “I, the Lord, the first and with the last, I am he” (Isaiah 41:4).
Second, We See That God Is With You
Into this courtroom scene, a different voice breaks in at verse 8. Having exposed the emptiness of idols, God turns tenderly to his people: “But you, Israel, my servant… I have chosen you and not cast you off.” He reminds them that long before exile, long before their sins, he chose Abraham, called his descendants, and bound himself to them (Isaiah 41:8–9). If he knew their failures and the exile that would come, and still made promises, those promises cannot now be revoked. On that basis he speaks the great command of verse 10: do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, help you, and uphold you with my righteous right hand.
The craftsman in verse 7 uses his right hand to hammer an idol; God uses his right hand to hold up his weak people. That difference is the heart of our comfort. When you are afraid, what you need most is not control but presence—someone good and strong who is with you. There are people whose presence does not truly help, because they lack power or faithfulness. But when the God who governs empires says to you, “I am with you,” fear loses its grip. His election in the past and his rule over the future give confidence in the present.
The passage then paints three pictures of what God’s presence means. First, peace in opposition (Isaiah 41:11–13). God’s people faced real enemies, but he promises to take their hand and deal with those who war against them. Second, strength in weakness (Isaiah 41:14–16). He calls them “worm Jacob”—a small, defenseless creature. Yet he says he will turn this worm into a sharp threshing sledge that can crush mountains. This is how God works: his power is made perfect in our weakness. He takes those who look insignificant and uses their trust in him to topple proud obstacles. Third, hope in affliction (Isaiah 41:17–20). The poor and needy are pictured wandering in a scorched wilderness without water. God promises rivers on bare heights, pools in the desert, trees where there was only dust. He meets his people in their driest places, so that all may see that the Lord’s hand has done it.
This is not theory. Many of us have known times when the “what ifs” swarmed: what if I lose this person, this child, this future? In such moments, it is not technology or plans that steady the heart, but the living voice of God in passages like Isaiah 41:10. When you are sitting in a hospital room, or lying awake in the night, or walking through loneliness that will not lift, there is a peace no phone, no account balance, no achievement can supply: the knowledge that the one who runs history is holding your hand and will not forsake you.
Conclusion
When you are afraid, the temptation is always the same: grab for control and reach for idols that promise relief. But Isaiah 41 pulls back the curtain. Idols are nothing; they cannot see the future, they cannot explain the past, they cannot move. God alone is sovereign over history, and in Christ he has shown that he is for his people. He not only rules the nations; he takes the hands of his weak ones, turns worms into threshing sledges, and makes deserts bloom.
So the question is not whether the “what ifs” will come; they will. The question is, when they come, where will you turn? If the worst you fear should happen—even then—God will still be sovereign, and God will still be with you in Christ. Lay down your idols. Trust the One who says, “I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you by my righteous, omnipotent hand.” Will you trust him?
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"There is perhaps no human emotion more universal and instinctive than fear. Fear is inextricably linked to the future. Fear is a fire fueled by the oxygen of what ifs."
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"The universal response to fear is control. If fear is as instinctive as breathing, control is as universal as blinking. Control promises a future free from fear. Control offers to make your vision of the future a reality."
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"Fear is revealing. Fear is a mirror that always tells the truth. Fear tells you what you value."
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"I wouldn't be surprised if the anthropologists of the future looked back at our day and categorized the smartphone in the same category as ancient idols and totems of old. The point isn't the phone. The point is our hearts."
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"Friend, where you turn for refuge when you are afraid, that is your God. Isaiah 41 warns us that anything you turn to other than the true God will promise strength but leave you exhausted."
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"To choose nothing over God is to render a verdict on God and to render a verdict on yourself. It's not just that we do bad things; we do bad things because we worship other gods."
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"In Christianity, we don't just turn to Jesus as a new and better idol. When we turn to Jesus, we make him the center of the universe, which is what he is. He is the sovereign God, and we surrender completely the control over our lives."
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"Idols promise control. But what we really need when we're afraid is peace. We need to know that God is with us and that God is sovereign."
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"Friends, this is one of the paradoxes of the Christian life: weakness for the Christian is strength, because God's power is made perfect in weakness. God takes all our enemies and says, I will make you, you little worm, into a threshing sledge that can thresh mountains."
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"A motto our family has adopted is: it's not what if, but if then. Instead of living controlled by what might possibly happen in the future, even then—if the thing you fear most happens—God is sovereign, God is with you, and God is good."
Observation Questions
- In Isaiah 41:1–4, what “courtroom” scene does God describe, and what repeated question does He ask about the one “from the east”?
- According to Isaiah 41:5–7, how do the coastlands and the craftsmen respond when they see the rising threat, and what do they do with their idols?
- In Isaiah 41:8–10, how does God describe Israel’s relationship to Him, and what specific commands and promises does He give them?
- Looking at Isaiah 41:11–13, what does God say will happen to those who are “incensed” against His people, and how does He picture His help to them?
- In Isaiah 41:14–16, how is Israel first described, and into what does God promise to transform them? What imagery is used?
- In Isaiah 41:17–20, what needs do the “poor and needy” have, what does God promise to do in the wilderness, and what is the stated purpose of these miracles in verse 20?
Interpretation Questions
- Why does God choose to frame this chapter as a courtroom scene (41:1–4, 21–29), and what does this teach us about His relationship to the nations and to history?
- What is the irony in verses 5–7 regarding who is actually “strengthening” whom, and how does this support the sermon’s point about idols exhausting rather than helping us?
- How do verses 8–10 show that God’s command “fear not” is grounded in His prior choice and calling of His people, not in their strength or worthiness?
- Why does God call Israel a “worm” in verse 14, and how does the transformation into a “threshing sledge” (vv. 15–16) reveal how God’s power relates to our weakness?
- According to verses 17–20, what is God ultimately aiming to show through His care for His weak and thirsty people in the wilderness, and how does that connect to the sermon’s emphasis on God displaying His glory through our trials?
Application Questions
- When you think about your own “what ifs” and fears about the future, what do they reveal about what you treasure most, and where are you most tempted to reach for control rather than for God?
- What “near idols” (e.g., phone, work, relationships, money, comfort) do you most often turn to for refuge when you feel anxious, and how have you experienced them leaving you more tired or enslaved instead of at peace?
- In a present or recent situation of opposition, criticism, or misunderstanding, what would it look like to live as if Isaiah 41:10 and 41:13 are true—that God is holding your right hand and will uphold you?
- Where do you feel most like “worm Jacob” right now—weak, overlooked, or powerless—and how might God be intending to display His strength through that very weakness this week?
- What concrete step could you take this week to cultivate trust in God’s presence and sovereignty (for example, memorizing Isaiah 41:10, changing how you respond to fear, or limiting an idol that promises control)?
Additional Bible Reading
- Isaiah 40:9–31 — God’s greatness over creation and the nations reinforces His power to comfort and strengthen His fearful people in Isaiah 41.
- 2 Chronicles 36:15–23 — Describes the exile and Cyrus’s decree that fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy about the “one from the east,” showing God’s sovereignty over history.
- Psalm 115:1–11 — Contrasts the lifelessness of idols with the living God who is a real help and shield, echoing Isaiah 41’s verdict on idols.
- Romans 3:9–26 — Shows all humanity silent and accountable before God’s judgment, yet offered righteousness through Christ, paralleling the courtroom theme and gospel invitation.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 — Paul explains how God’s power is made perfect in weakness, illuminating Isaiah 41’s image of “worm Jacob” becoming a threshing sledge.
Sermon Main Topics
I. The Universal Human Experience of Fear and the Quest for Control
II. God Is Sovereign Over History (Isaiah 41:1-7, 21-29)
III. God Is With You (Isaiah 41:8-20)
IV. Trusting God's Sovereignty and Presence Brings Peace
Detailed Sermon Outline
There is perhaps no human emotion more universal and instinctive than fear. Whether you are a kid in a dark room at night wondering if something might possibly be under your bed, or a job applicant going in for an interview, or a preacher stepping into the pulpit to deliver a sermon, Fear is inextricably linked to the future. Fear is a fire fueled by the oxygen of what ifs. These what ifs range from the comical and irrational to the sober and life-changing. But what they all have in common is the ability to imagine a future in which something you treasure is threatened.
What if I lose my spouse? What if I lose my child? What if I lose my health? What if?
What are you afraid of?
When you are afraid, where do you turn?
The universal response to fear is control. If fear is as instinctive as breathing, control is as universal as blinking. Control promises a future free from fear. Control offers to make your vision of the future a reality. Control promises to prevent what you fear from happening and protect what you treasure.
German sociologist Hartmut Rosa writes in his recent book, the Uncontrollability of the World, that the driving cultural force of that form of life we call modern is the idea, the hope and desire that we can make the world controllable. So from scientific innovations in medicine to technological advancements, the modern quest for control seeks to produce an antidote to fear.
But as my friend Paul Billings likes to ask, how's that working out for you?
Has it worked? Has the modern promise overpromised and underdelivered? Are we any less fearful? Are we any less anxious?
When you are afraid, where can you turn for real help?
For lasting help.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 41. You can find it on page 601 of the Pew Bibles, Isaiah chapter 41. Here we see God's answer to the question of where we can turn for help when we are afraid. As you turn there, let me set the context. The people of God had no shortage of things to fear in Isaiah's day.
We saw two weeks ago in chapter 39 that they had that they were going to be sent into exile, children would be separated from parents, homes destroyed, and the what ifs would have been staggering. What if I'm never reunited with my family again? What if I am never able to return home? What if God's promises have failed? What if?
But with that news of exile, God did not leave his people without assurance. We saw last week in chapter 40 how God gives his people great promises of a return after exile, that he would put away their sin, that he would welcome them back, and he assures them of these promises by pointing to his character. He is the sovereign God. He will make good on everything he has promised. Isaiah 41 continues that same theme.
It offers promises grounded in God's character that quiet his people's fears. And the point of this passage is this. When you are afraid, remember God is sovereign and God is with you. When you are afraid, remember God is sovereign. And God is with you.
Listen now as I read to us from chapter 41. This is the word of the Lord.
Listen to me in silence, O coastlands. Let the peoples renew their strength. Let them approach and let them speak. Let us together draw near for judgment. Who stirred up one from the east, whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot. He makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. He pursues them and passes on safely by paths his feet have not trod. Who has performed and done this calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first and with the last, I am he.
The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near and come; everyone says to his neighbor, 'Be strong!' the craftsmen strengthen the goldsmith; and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes with the anvil, saying of the soldering, 'It is good!' and they strengthen it with nails, so that it cannot be moved. But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend, you, whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, you are my servant. I have chosen you and not cast you off. Fear not, for I am with you.
Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded.
Those who strive against you shall be as nothing, and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend against you, but you shall not find them. Those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand. It is I who say to you, Fear not, I am the one who helps you.
Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel. I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth. You shall thresh the mountains and crush them.
You shall make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away. The tempest shall scatter them, and you shall rejoice in the Lord. In the holy one of Israel, you shall glory. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their thirst is parched with thirst, I, the Lord, will answer them.
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers on bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane, and the pine together, and they that they may see and know, may consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this.
The Holy One of Israel has created it. Set forth your case, says the Lord. Bring your proofs, says the king of Jacob. Let them bring them and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may understand them, that we may know their outcome, or declare to us things to come.
Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Do good or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified.
Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing. An abomination is he who chooses you. I stirred up one from the north, and he has come from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name. He shall trample on rulers as mortar. As the potter treads on clay.
Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and said beforehand, that we might say he is right. There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words. I was the first to say to Zion, Behold, here they are, and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news. But when I look, there is none. Among there is no counselor, who when I ask gives an answer.
Behold, they are all a delusion. Their works are nothing. Their metal images are empty wind.
The question this passage is answering is, When you are afraid, what do you need to remember? When you are afraid, what do you need to remember? And throughout this passage we're given two answers, two antidotes to fear. To truths that really help. And they are these: First, we see that God is sovereign.
God is sovereign. We see that in the bookends of this passage in verses 1 to 7 and then at the end in verses 21 to 29. Second, we see that God is with you. God is with you. We see that in verses 8 to 20.
So God is with you and God is sovereign. So we'll begin with God is sovereign. That's in verses 1 to 7 and 21 to 29. Really, this is the truth that bookends this entire chapter. To his fearful people in exile, a God depicts a courtroom drama.
You know, the kind of legal drama that some of us watch on TV and many of you live out in real life every week.
And in this courtroom, Yahweh, the one true God, is portrayed both as judge and litigator. You see, in this courtroom, God is sovereign. He summons the witnesses to come to him. In Isaiah's day, as in our day, there was a slanderous prosecution campaign against God and against his people. The belief at the time was that a people was so identified with their God that the defeat of one nation by another nation meant the defeat of that nation's God by the other God.
So in this case, in the case of the exile, Yahweh, the God of Israel, was supposed to have been beaten by Marduk, the chief god in the pantheon of the Babylonian gods. And the taunt, the taunt that we heard about in Psalm 115, or perhaps you remember Psalm 137, the taunt against God's people is that because we have defeated you, your God must be weak. If you are weak, your God must be weak. And this is a taunt that Christians hear still today. If you are weak, your God must be weaked.
But did the defeat of God's people prove the impotence of their God? No. So God summons the nations to court to prosecute them for seditious libel. See, when God wants to comfort his people, he sends a love letter. When God summons his enemies, he issues a subpoena and they show up.
There is no escaping his judgment. And just notice one detail in this passage. In the whole chapter, the nations do not say a single word. It's like the judgment we're told about in Romans 3 that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be held accountable to God. Sometimes people imagine, well, I don't need to follow God and if it does turn out that he is real and I do have to stand before him, this is what I'm gonna tell him.
I'm going to let him have it. Oh friend, if that is you today, you do not understand this God. There is no speaking back to this judge in his courtroom. We will all be summoned to give an account and we will be silent before him.
And the question, the question under dispute in this legal drama is who is in control? Who is in charge? Who is sovereign? Is it the idols of the Babylonians? Is it their gods who seem so powerful?
Or is it Yahweh? So God puts the nations on the stand. He puts them on the stand for direct examination. And He only has one question. Only one question in this entire chapter.
It's repeated three times. Did you notice it? He asks in verses 2 and 4 and again in 26, the question is who? Who?
And just like in chapter 40, this who question is rhetorical. It is intended to secure the response, no one but Yahweh. No one but God. But whereas chapter 40 focused on God's power in creation, chapter 41 focuses on God's sovereignty over history. You know, it's like Isaiah snatches the telescope and hands them a history textbook.
And says, Let's see who's really running the world. Let's trace the history of the nations and see who is behind it all. And the answer is Yahweh, the one true God. See, the Babylonian gods boasted, among other things, that they were completely able to predict and foretell the future. They would cut open goats and they would study the intestines and they assumed that that would give them omens or understanding of what was to come.
So they believed they controlled the future and that they were able to manipulate their gods secure their intended ends. And this is why God centers his line of questioning on these who questions. So in verse two, we're introduced to a shadowy figure simply referred to as one from the east. We don't know who he is yet, but the picture gradually becomes more and more clear. This is the same one as referred to in verse 25 as the one from the north.
And by chapter 44, the identity of this one is disclosed as King Cyrus, of Persia, King Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus the Great leapt onto the world stage as one of the greatest rulers of all time. His victories and conquests over all his enemies are recounted in verses two and three as they crushed their enemies like grass. Cyrus conquered the mighty Babylonian Empire who seemed so strong at the time defeating them entirely in 539 BC.
He subdued the ancient world in a kingdom that spread from Macedonia in the west to India in the east. He ended the draconian Babylonian policies of export of deportation. And he embarked on a humane policy of repatriating displaced peoples. And it's him who was responsible for the return of the people of Judah to Jerusalem that we read about in places like 2 Chronicles 36. All this was still future for Isaiah's first audience.
But detailed prophecies like this one drive home the point that God is in charge of history. He can declare the future as if it is in the past, as if it is an event already accomplished. And the point is this, these Babylonians who boasted over Israel as if it was their gods who had defeated Israel's God never saw Cyrus coming. They were completely unable to predict or foretell his rise. So verses 5 to 7 mockingly describe the fearful response of Babylonian, of the Babylonians and all other nations to the rapid rise of Cyrus.
And their response is telling. Their response is fear. See, fear is revealing. Fear is a mirror that always tells the truth. Fear tells you what you value.
The Babylonians valued their empire. They valued their independence. They valued their autonomy. So what do they do when they see this rising threat of Cyrus? Well, you see their response in verses 6 to 7.
They turn to idols.
And just think about this for a second. A massive geopolitical threat is on the rise. An army is literally on the horizon, bearing down on them. What do they do? Well, they transform their manufacturing sites into idle factories, and they kick into hyperdrive.
They turn to the same idols that were unable to predict this threat, as if those same idols will be able to deliver them. But they can't. See, idols promise control. They promise to secure a desired end. They offer to provide what we desire or protect us from what we fear.
What is an idol? Here's how Martin Luther summarized it.
A God is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need. A God is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need.
What do you fear? Where do you turn for refuge when you are afraid?
See, the more ubiquitous an idol becomes, the more blind we are to it. You see that even in verses 6 to 7. What are the people doing in verses 6 to 7? They're helping each other. They're encouraging each other.
They're trying to strengthen each other. They're trying to affirm each other in their pursuit of idolatry. And it's foolishness. And we look at this and think, How could they possibly think that these gods are going to be able to deliver them? From Cyrus when they couldn't predict his rise.
Oh, but friends, there's a relationship between idolatry and the social and cultural cycle of affirmation. When we look around and we say, well, everyone's doing it. Everyone's worshiping these gods. Maybe they really are real gods. If we look carefully at the world around us, if we look honestly at our own hearts, we see that we are not that different from the Babylonians.
We worship gods of power and influence. We worship gods of status and success. We worship gods of sex and pleasure, of comfort and affirmation. These gods promise to protect us from what we fear or secure what we desire, whether it's obsolescence, loneliness, or pain. These are what Tim Keller calls far idols.
Those ends that we desire other than God, those ultimate things that we look to to provide what only God can give. And we use what Tim Keller calls near idols to secure those ends, those things we turn to to give us that thing that we want, to give us control. So we desire attention, so we seek to control our bodies and our appearance. We desire affirmation. And we end up idolizing relationships.
We look for comfort, so we turn to food or drink.
I wonder what near idols you turn to when you're tempted to fear.
What do these idols reveal about the idols that rival God for sovereignty in your heart? And we may be quick to protest in our day that we don't have idols of wood and stone like the Babylonians, but what about the composites of aluminum and glass and rare earth minerals that we carry around in our pockets? I wouldn't be surprised if the anthropologists of the future looked back at our day and categorized the smartphone in the same category as ancient idols and totems of old. They might reflect on the reverence and carefulness with which humans treat their devices, They might observe the emotional reaction that results from dropping or misplacing one's smartphone. They might analyze the ritualistic behavior of checking notifications every morning as a liturgy of sorts.
They could point to the authoritative trust we place in what we see or hear from our devices as a functional belief system. The real test is when you ask someone, well, why don't you just get rid of their phone?
They always give the same answer: I could not live without my phone. The point isn't the phone. The point is our hearts. You could get rid of your phone and still have the same heart condition of seeking to make things that are not God into God, of ascribing ultimate worth and value to things that are not God. It's just that the smartphone has quickly become one of the most effective means of giving us a sense of control.
I mean, just think about it. When you're afraid, are you quicker to turn to Google or to God in prayer?
Are you more likely to turn to social media for comfort or to the promises of God in His Word? These alternative idols can grab hold of our hearts and convince us into thinking that we're self-sufficient and we don't need to depend on God.
But here's what happens. It's what Titus prayed. It's what we turn to for control starts to control and enslave us. We've all seen this in the world when it comes to money or power, how those who pursue and idolize those things become slaves of them. Friend, where you turn for refuge when you are afraid, that is your God.
In Isaiah 41, warns us that anything you turn to other than true God will promise strength but leave you exhausted. Look at the irony of verse seven. Look back there with me. This verse depicts a frenzied hive of activity, hammering, soldering, nailing all of this effort. But who is strengthening who in this idol factory?
Are the idols strengthening the people?
No, the people are strengthening their idols. The idols that promise control are sapping the people of strength. They do not help because they are nothing. That's God's verdict on idolatry in verses 21 to 29. There at the end of the chapter, God calls back this scene of judgment and he renders his verdict.
In verses 21 to 23, God calls the nations to do what they claim to be able to do, to predict the future.
And what follows is icy silence. The smoking gun is that under oath, the nations plead the fifth. They are completely unable to respond. So God lowers the bar. He says, okay, you can't tell us what's going to happen, then at least explain the past.
Silence. So he lowers the bar even further. He says, well, do good or do harm, do something, move. Talk. Do anything to prove that you are not just a mute and dumb piece of wood.
Again, silence. So God renders his verdict in verse 24 and again in 29. He says, you, are nothing. That word nothing is used three times in this passage. It doesn't just mean that idols are untrustworthy.
They're not even that. They can't even say anything to prove that they are untrustworthy. They are nothing. They are not sovereign. And the verdict is not just on the idols.
The verdict is on those who choose the idols. God calls them in verse 24 an abomination.
This is the Bible's strongest word to refer to what is morally repugnant and detestable in God's eyes, an abomination. To choose nothing over God is to render a verdict on God and to render a verdict on yourself.
The verdict on God is to say that he is nothing, and that invites God's verdict on top of the idolater. God created us to know him and love him. But all of us have done exactly what is described in this passage again and again and again. We've turned away from the true God, the one who created us in his image and we have created idols in our own image. We haven't submitted to God's sovereign control in our lives.
We've sought to assert sovereignty over our lives ourselves. The Bible calls that sin. And it's not just that we do bad things. We do bad things because we worship other gods. So we need more than just a moralistic solution.
We need more than just cleaning ourselves up and trying harder. We need a new heart. We need to be saved from the consequences of our sin. We need to be saved from ourselves. The good news is that God has done this for us.
He sent his son to die the death that idolaters deserve. He was treated by God on the cross as if he was an abomination, as if he was morally detestable in God's sight, though he had done nothing wrong. God raised him from the dead, showing that the penalty for sin had been paid in full and that God's offer of new life and a new heart is extended to every single person.
Would you turn from your idols to Christ? Or would you recognize that these idols are not making good on what they promise? They promise a salvation and they deliver slavery. They do not love you. They cannot help you.
Jesus loves you. Jesus will help you. Would you turn to him?
In Christianity, we don't just turn to Jesus as a new and better idol. We don't adopt Jesus as kind of the super idol who's more powerful than all the other idols to give us exactly what we want. No, when we turn to Jesus, we make him the center of the universe, which is what he is. He is the sovereign God and we surrender completely. The control over our lives.
And that leads to a profound peace and joy that nothing in this world can give. See, unlike the idols, God is the sovereign Lord of history. That's the whole point of this line of argumentation. Idols are not sovereign. God is sovereign.
And that's who God declares himself to be in verse four. He says, I, the Lord, the first and the last, I am he. God is unoriginated in his essence and changeless in his being. He is transcendent and exists apart from all created order. And he is sovereign over history.
Did you notice that verb stir in verse 2 and again in verse 25?
Just think about effort and effect. It says God stirs history. The way you might stir a teacup. What happens? A new empire is born.
God is sovereign over history. And whereas in idolatry an idol is the instrument, in the idolater the agent, God is the agent in all human beings. Even the great Emperor Cyrus are his instruments. So when you are afraid, When what you treasure is being threatened, don't turn to idols. Don't turn to idols.
Turn to the sovereign God. Remember that he is sovereign. And the good news of the Bible and the good news of this passage is that he is not only sovereign, he is also with you. That's our second point. We see this in verses 8 to 20.
Unlike man-made idols, God promises to be present with his people and it is God's presence that makes all the difference. The but in verse 8 signals a contrast. Unlike the fearful and idolatrous response of the nation, God calls his people in verse 10 to fearlessly trust in him. This whole section alternates between two imperatives. You see them in verses 10 and 14, 11 and 15.
They are fear not, and behold, fear not and behold. God is giving his people pictures of what it looks like to trust in him and how he will provide for them as they trust in him so that they don't need to fear. Verses 8 to 9, crescendo into the promise of verse 10. Three times in verses 8 to 9, God reminds his people that they are his, they are mine. Their promises, the promises made to Abraham are not in question.
The verbs chosen, took, called all emphasize that God's presence with his people is underwritten by his sovereignty. The point is this, if God is sovereign over all history, and if God chose Abraham and gave him these promises, and if God knew what would come, if he knew their idolatrous response, if he knew the exile was coming, and he still called Abraham, He still made these promises to them. Then there is no chance that God will default on his promises. And brother, sister, the same is true for you. God is sovereign over history and he knows all things.
If he chose you, he will bring to completion the work that he has begun in you. He is sovereign, he will do it. He will not fail in making good on the promises he has made to you. The main command in this chapter is in verse 10: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. This is a command.
God's people are commanded not to fear, because God is present with them. But this is an inviting command. God's presence with his people is the ultimate antidote to fear. You know, there might be times in your life when you would be afraid, but you have someone with you who makes all the difference. There might be some people in your life who you'd still be afraid if they were with you.
Maybe there's something questionable about their power or their character. But there are other people. If they're with you, you know you have nothing to be afraid of.
God is the sovereign God. He knows all things and he is the one who says to you, I am with you. And it is God's presence with his people that drives all fear away because it gives us his peace. See, idols promise control but what we really need when we're afraid is peace. We need to know that God is with us and that God is sovereign.
God's election in the past and perfect control of the future give his people peace in the present. And notice what God is doing with his right hand in verse 10. I love this detail. He says, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Do you remember what the craftsman was doing with his right hand in verse 7?
He was hammering his idol. He was trying to make his idol strong.
Do you see what God is doing with his right hand?
He's giving strength to his people. His right arm is what gives strength to his people so that no matter what comes in your life, you do not need to be afraid because God is with you.
Perhaps the time in my life when I was most afraid and felt most alone was about four years ago during the birth of our first child. It was during COVID We were laboring, Claire was laboring in the hospital all night long without medication. She was in a lot of pain. We felt very alone there in that room. And we were exhausted.
Nothing had gone terribly wrong. But all these what ifs came to the front of my mind. Looking at my wife in pain, not being able to do anything to help her, the fears. What if God takes my wife? What if I lose my child?
What if this never comes to an end and just continues in a nightmarish spiral?
We had picked some verses that we wanted to meditate on and memorize in anticipation of birth.
And of all those verses that we tried to memorize, I could not remember any of them in labor except for this verse, Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10, Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you and I will help you. I will uphold you by my righteous right hand. I must have repeated that verse a hundred times to Claire that night. And what I realized is I wasn't saying it for her. I was also saying it for myself.
I needed to hear those words. I needed to know that I wasn't alone, that God was with me. And knowing God's presence gave such a peace. And that, friend, is a peace that no idol can give. There is no app or notification or any idol, anything this world can offer that can compare to the peace that God gives when you know that he is with you.
So when you are alone and afraid, know that God is with you. Kids, this is a verse that you may want to store away for the future. This is the kind of verse that you want to put in your memory bank so that when trials come, when you feel alone, you can turn to passages like this and remember that God is with you. How does God's presence help his people when we are afraid? Well, verses 11 to 20 give us three answers, three pictures of how God's presence gives peace amidst opposition, in weakness and in affliction.
The first picture is in verses 11 to 13. It's a picture of opposition. There was no shortage of enemies to oppose God's people in the ancient world. So Isaiah may have had in mind the Babylonian captors who were taunting the people of Israel or other nations like the Edomites and Ammonites. But these verses give a picture of peace amidst opposition.
Because of verse 13, God says, I, the Lord, your God, hold your right hand. It is I who say to you, Fear not. I am the one who helps you. God's presence gives his people peace amidst opposition. And it gives us strength and weakness.
That's the second picture in verses 14 to 16. In these verses, God's people are depicted as one of the weakest and smallest and most powerless creatures in all of creation. They're pictured as a worm. Can you imagine a more offensive image for God to use to comfort his people? He says, you, worm Jacob.
A worm is powerless. A worm is defenseless. And friends, on this side of eternity, God's people often feel and appear to the world weak, small, defenseless, and powerless.
But notice how God's presence gives strength and weakness. This worm, this smallest of all creatures, is told that he will thresh mountains. Mountains. That's verses 15 and 16. God takes this puny worm and compares it to a mighty threshing sledge.
Which is what you would drag over corn or wheat to separate the husk from the grain, something very sharp, something very powerful. Picture a combine or a mighty tractor. That is what God turns this weak, puny worm into. And friends, this is one of the paradoxes of the Christian life. Weakness for the Christian is strength.
Because God's power is made perfect in weakness. God takes all our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. He takes the sins that afflict us. He takes our enemies who taunts us. And he says, I will make you, you little worm, into a threshing sledge that can thresh mountains.
God's power is made perfect in our weakness. If you want to read an edifying sermon on this passage, check out Thomas Boston's sermon, Worm, Jacob, Threshing Mountains, a very edifying sermon. The last picture in this passage comes from verses 17 to 20. We're told that God's presence gives us hope in affliction. The image here is of a desert wilderness.
The people are called poor and needy because they have no water, no shelter, and God says to them that he will open rivers in a desert. He will make the wilderness a pool of water. Oh friend, you might be in a spiritual desert this morning. You might feel like you have no water and no shelter and God promises to make the streams abound in your wilderness because he is with you. And notice why God does all this in verse 20.
God gives the answer. Why does God will to allow his people to seem so weak, so helpless, so dependent upon him. It's not because he isn't with them. It's not because he isn't sovereign. It is because God wills to make his sovereignty and his power visible through the weakness of his people as they trust in him.
That's what God is always doing in our trials if we trust in him. If we turn to him, He shows off his power and his glory so that they may see and know and consider and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this.
Do you remember the judgment God ordained for his people in chapter 6 through Isaiah's preaching? It was lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and I might heal them.
See, God was going to allow the effect of idolatry to take its toll and to blind his people's hearts, to harden their hearts so that they would be sent off into judgment. But that was not the end. God was going to strip away their idols through their trials. He was going to show them his power and cause them to trust in him so that he would be glorified. What is God doing in our weakness?
What is he doing when he sends trials into your life to strip away anything and everything that you would turn to trust in other than him?
He's making his power known.
A motto our family has adopted that we often repeat to each other comes from Eli Schmucker. It's not what if, but if then. Have you heard this one? It's not what if, but if then. You see what she's saying?
It's instead of living in fear of the what ifs, instead of living controlled by what might possibly happen in the future, instead, even even then. Even then, if the thing I fear happens the most. If I lose my spouse or lose my child or don't find a spouse or can't have a child, even then. Even then, God is sovereign and God is with you. Even then.
God is good.
One young girl who embodied this truth was Laurie Pruitt. From birth, Laurie struggled with several physical disabilities. They left her largely immobilized. From a young age, she lived most of her life in a full-body cast in her upper body. Everything was difficult for Laurie.
Nothing was easy. But Laurie had a profound joy that everyone who knew her could see. See, Laurie was a Christian, and she trusted that God was sovereign, that God was good, that Jesus loved her, and that God had purposes for her suffering, even if she didn't know what they were.
One of Laurie's classmates was a precocious 13-year-old. Unlike Laurie, he had considered and rejected the message of Christianity. He had plenty of reasons for doing so that Laurie didn't have. But Laurie had something that he didn't have. Laurie had joy.
And Laurie had peace. And that joy amidst her suffering was one of the means that God used to undo this teenager's doubts.
That boy's name was Mark Dever. One of the instruments that God used to cause Mark Dever to doubt his doubts and embraced the truth of Christianity was a little girl that many would look at and say is weak and puny and insignificant. But she was mighty in faith because she trusted in the Lord. And God used that faith to do mighty things.
What is God doing in our weakness? He's putting his power on display that we may know and see that the hand of the Lord has done this. And because he is sovereign and because he is with you, you can keep trusting. Fear not, I am with thee. Oh, be not dismayed, for I am thy God.
I will still give thee aid. I will strengthen thee. I will help thee, I will cause thee to stand, upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. Will you trust him?
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we praise you for your sovereign right hand that gently and carefully cares for your own, that tenderly calls us to trust in youn, and that strengthens the faith of those who feel weakest so that they might mightily display youy power. Cause our trust to be in youn alone today. In Jesus' name, amen.