Good vs. Evil: The Lowly Will Become the Mighty

Preached on September 15, 2024

You may feel like the wicked and the evil is gaining the upperhand, but don’t you worry. Join Pastor McCrary this week as he takes a look at God’s promise to a lowly Israel. God’s promise to Israel is a promise He has made to those that love Him. The meek shall be blessed – the lowlly will become the mighty.

Introduction

Good shall always prevail in the battle of good and evil, even though it may not feel like it today.  God has promised that the meek – the lowly – shall inherit the earth.  In today’s sermon, I want to focus on how the lowly becomes the mighty through fellowship with the Lord.  Again, we must remember, God’s thoughts towards us are not evil, but of peace, a future and hope.  The Lord will not allow His children to be destroyed.

The Lowly Worm

In the first of my key verses, God refers to the men of Israel as a worm.  God said, “Fear not, you worm Jacob.”  That seems like a rather harsh thing for the Lord to say there, doesn’t it?  Not only does God refer to Israel as a worm, but He calls them Jacob.  What is with God’s choice of wording in this verse?

Actually, it’s a very fitting statement to describe Israel at that time for a couple of reasons.  First, let’s first consider Jacob who, by the way, was a wormy person!  Jacob was a known schemer!  He got Esau to give up his birthright (Gen. 25:29-34).  Later, Jacob tricked his dad, Isaac, who was nearing death into giving him the blessing which would’ve gone to Esau (Gen. 27:1-29).  

The men of Israel had acted against God during that period of time.  The northern tribes had forsook the Lord which led to them being conquered by the Assyrians.  The southern tribes, while having a mix of good and wicked kings, eventually forsook the Lord and were conquered and carried away into exile to Babylon.

Second, let’s consider worms.  Worms are hardly ever thought of unless one is grabbing fishing bait, or you’re a gardener and you see one now and then.  Otherwise, worms aren’t seen nor are they thought of.  Worms are trampled over in more ways than one— they are irrelevant creatures.

Now, Israel had become irrelevant at that time though they were never meant to be irrelevant.  Israel was meant to be to God a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:5-6).  The books of Jeremiah and Lamentations show just how rough that period of time was for the Jews.  We have also seen in the book of Daniel the mockery and treatment that the Jews were facing.

Now, this begs to question whether or not we are any different than Israel?  Are we as a lowly worm?  Some of us might think we are the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Yes, we are God’s creation but we, mankind, are a creation that forsook God and turned to sin!  So, are we truly the greatest thing since sliced bread? 

Rather than lifting each other up, man still has the desire to lord over another, thinking himself to be a god.  Rather than lifting each other up, man still tramples over one another out of greed, covetousness, jealousy, and selfish ambition.  Rather than helping each other, man still enslaves, suppresses, oppresses, and tries to keep another from prospering.  Simply put:  in more ways than one, we are worms.  

God’s Desire for the Lowly

Let’s notice that to Israel, God, their Redeemer, promised to help them.  God promised to do for them as He had done for Jacob.  You see, God chose Jacob, named and made him Israel.  God lifted up Jacob from simply being a schemer to where he, named Israel, became God’s servant (Gen. 35:9-11).  

Israel’s children were the descendants of Abraham, a man who God called His friend!  God desired to enjoy the same bond and fellowship with them that He enjoyed with Abraham (Is. 41:8-9).  Abraham, we should remember, became the father of many nations and through him, the world was saved.  Such blessings is what the Lord had in mind for Israel.

What about us?  Does God share such thoughts for all of us today?  The lowly are in need of help today and many of us wonder whether or not God even cares to help us.  You may be one of the ones wondering whether or not God has abandoned us to be trampled upon in this world of wickedness?  Has God abandoned us?  

Well, didn’t He give the world His only begotten Son?  Did He only help the Jews?  A gentile woman once came to Jesus about her demon-possessed daughter and cried out for help.  Jesus told His disciples, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24).”  Yet, when the woman insisted and showed great faith, Jesus marveled at her faith and healed her daughter (Matt. 15:28).  Was that just a one time occasion for Jesus caring about gentiles?

When Jesus spoke about being the good shepherd, He stated, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16).”  Yes, Jesus came to the Jews first but in no way did He ever intend on leaving all other people behind.  Whether you are a Jew or gentile, God desires to enjoy the same bond He had with Abraham with you!  

Do you understand what it means to be a friend of God?  Jesus promised not to leave His friends as orphans but to give them a Helper – the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 18).  The Holy Spirit abides with all of those who love the Lord and keep His commandments.  The work of the Holy Spirit is to transform the friends of Christ through the renewing of our  mind (heart) to be like Him.

What a Friend We Have in Him

Do you understand how wonderful and how powerful it is for God to always be with you as a friend?  I feel we don’t truly understand how wonderful it is to have a friend in Jesus.  Why do I say that?

Do you doubt the Lord

Oftentimes, when we find ourselves struggling in hard times, we get like the children of Israel when they were “trapped” at the Red Sea.  After they had been freed from the bondage of Egypt, Moses brought the children of Israel to the Red Sea to camp.  Pharaoh, filled with anger, decided to go after the newly freed Israel and found them camping at the sea.

Israel saw Pharaoh and his chariots drawing closer to their camp and terror overcame them.  They said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness (Ex. 14:10-12)?”  It is almost as if Israel had already forgotten how the Lord plagued all of Egypt to free them from bondage.  Why would He have done those things just for them to be brought out to die at the Red Sea?

Here we are today, when those trials, tribulations, and afflictions mount up, many of us begin to worry.  When things aren’t going our way, we, again, start to worry.  When the wicked and the evil surround us and Satan is set to ambush us, fear, terror, and panic begins to overcome us.  How soon we forget all that God has brought us through. 

Many of us truly think God doesn’t care about us.  Many of us truly believe that God does not have our best interest in mind.  How is that faith?  Do you truly believe that the Lord desires for you to remain as a lowly worm to be trampled over?  

A friend that has our best interest in mind

Here is where I remind you today that God’s thoughts towards you are not evil!  God does not want you to be destroyed.  God’s plan towards you is of peace and to give you a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11).  Do you believe this to be true?  I repeat this so often because we must not doubt the Lord, our friend!

In Matthew 5:5, Jesus said, “Blessed are the meed (the lowly), for they shall inherit the earth.”  This is a promise that the lowly will inherit a land – the eternal land of promise – the heavenly land.  Do you believe in this promise?

As the children of Israel stood panicking at the Red Sea, Moses cried out, “Do not be afraid.  Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord (Ex. 14:13).”  The Lord went before them and parted the Red Sea, then the children of Israel escaped Pharaoh on dry ground.  When Pharaoh and his chariots tried to give chase, God crushed and destroyed them (Ex. 14:21-28)!  This is evidence of how the Lord will lift up the lowly.

You better believe the Lord has your best interest in mind!  God will never let you be destroyed!  A good friend sharpens their friend as iron sharpens iron (Prov. 27:17).  A good friend is there to help pick up their friend should they stumble and fall down (Eccl. 4:9-10).  Do you really believe that the Lord will allow you to fall and to stay down?

The wicked and evil want you to doubt that the Lord loves and cares about you.  No matter how much it’s a lie that God doesn’t care about you, they will repeatedly insist on pushing such a narrative.  Satan wants to wear you down so that you will give up on God and give up hope!  With the Holy Spirit dwelling with you, there is always hope!

A friend that empowers you to overcome

In the day of their exile in Babylon, when things couldn’t get any worse for the Jews, God’s word came to them.   Again in my key verse, the Lord told Israel to fear not as He promised to help them in their struggles.  

God then promised to make them into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth (Is. 41:15).  Some of you may remember the threshing floor from the story of Ruth and Boaz.  The threshing floor was a public area where grain was separated from the chaff.  The threshing sledge was made of wood that had several slots filled in with stones and iron.  The board would be pulled by oxen or mules over the top of grains to tear and separate the grain from the chaff.  

In this figure of speech, there is a role reversal for Israel, who was the lowly worm.  Rather than being trampled over, God promised that the lowly would become mighty.  Rather than being irrelevant, this was God saying they would be known.  The Lord said Israel would thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills like chaff.

When God is your friend, He will lift you up from being lowly to being mighty!  When God is your friend, the Lord will empower you to overcome.  Today you may be the lowly worm but tomorrow, you will be a new threshing sledge.  Those hills and mountains – your trials and tribulations – in your life, you will one day crush!  As the Lord promised to Israel, He promises that you will winnow – destroy – all of the obstacles before you.

A friend that brings victory

It may be hard for some of us to see such things happening in our life today because of all that we are going through.  The wicked and the evil don’t want you to dream such dreams.  Satan himself doesn’t want you to believe for one second that you can crush him and his army.  

What God did for Israel against Pharaoh, and even Babylon, He will do for you.  Just because you believe you’re losing today, don’t think for one second you are going to continue losing.  I repeat to you today, don’t buy into the lies of the wicked and evil.

In all that we deal with and go through today, I feel we need to be reminded that we shall overcome all that is against us because our faith is in Him who has already overcome.  Through Isaiah, the Lord promised that no weapon formed against you will prosper (Is. 54:17).  God has not given us His only begotten Son just for Satan, his army, and then flesh and blood, to destroy us.

As John wrote, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith (1 John 5:4).”  John then asked, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:5)?”  We must remember that nothing – no wickedness or evil – can keep us from being lifted up by the Lord.

Good Shall Prevail

We may be lowly today, but I truly do believe that one day we will be mighty.  You see, I truly do believe and am confident that good shall prevail in the end.  What is it that makes me so confident?  God continuously shows this to be the case.

God repeatedly uses the “foolish” things of the world to put to shame those who think themselves wise.  In the summer quarter of Sunday School lessons, we saw how the Lord will use women to lead.  We also see how the Lord will even use the young to lead as well.  Yes, the Lord has repeatedly shown that He will use what’s thought to be “weak” to put to shame the mighty (1 Cor. 1:27).

I believe that good shall prevail because God has promised it and He is faithful to His promises.  In Isaiah 41:10, God promised to strengthen, to help, and to uphold Israel by His righteous hand.  It may have taken some time but their forefathers were freed from the bondage of Egypt, they eventually returned form their exile in Babylon and rebuilt Jerusalem.

As God promised and did for Israel, again, He will continue to do for all of us.  Whatever it is that you have personally gone through in your life, you’re still standing tall today.  Again, you know my history and what I went through after suffering kidney failure— I endured because God uplifted me.  Because God has proven that He is faithful to His promise, I know that we shall all prevail against the wicked and evil that comes against us!

The Lord promised Israel that the day would come where they wouldn’t be able to find those that once contended with them.  The Lord promised them the day would come when those who warred against them would be nothing – the worm!  This is all true for us believers today.  Jesus said to His friends that He has given us His peace and that we shouldn’t let our hearts be troubled nor be afraid (John 14:27).   

So, as the writer of Hebrews encouraged, so I encourage all of you today:  let us come together as a great cloud of witnesses!  Let us lay aside every weight and sin which ensnares us.  In other words, let us lay aside our fears, worries, questions, and doubts – let’s trust the Lord!  Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us knowing that God will not let us be destroyed.  Let us run this race with endurance knowing that God will lift us up to victory.