I Will Help Thee

Three times the Lord tells us in Isaiah 41: “I will help thee.”  One of the great messages of Isaiah is that the Lord will strengthen and sustain those who covenant with Him and put their trust in Him.  He promises, “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).  A few verses later He emphasizes again, “For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:13).  And then if that wasn’t a strong enough promise, He says again, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, said the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 41:14).  The footnote says that the word “worm” here indicates the “meek and the humble,” and I think that is key here in receiving help from the Lord.  The Lord speaks of the “poor and needy” that seek sustenance and the Lord promises, “I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them” (Isaiah 41:17).  All of us really are “poor and needy” in some sense, and so this promise is to all of us, but I think it implies a state of humility on our part to recognize that we indeed need the Lord to help and hear us.  The Lord will “feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom” (Isaiah 40:11).  Thus the Lord will care for us as a shepherd cares for his lambs, but it is understood in this metaphor that the lambs are meek, humble, and willing to follow.  These are all requirements of us to receive the help of the Lord.