Royal Humility

Fear not, worm of Jacob, men of Israel; I will help you   Isaiah 41:14

Worm – What an odd thing for God to say about Israel.  If I called someone a worm, it would be taken as an insult, especially if the word (tola’ath) was the word for a parasite that destroyed manna (Exodus 16:20).  Useless.  Worse than useless.  Something to be despised.  A parasite that makes things rotten.  But there is more here than we think.

In this context, God uses tola’ath to describe the low esteem of Israel.  They thought of themselves as worms, pushed about by every nation, despised by the world.  Not much has changed in the thousands of years since Isaiah spoke these words.  The Jewish people, chosen by God, are still vilified and hated.  But God will help those whom He chooses.  He does not abandon His own.

Then there is another subtle implication.  The root tola has another meaning, a meaning that seems completely contradictory.  The word tola means crimson, purple or scarlet.  These colors were very rare and very expensive in the ancient world.  They are the colors associated with royalty.  Wearing purple was a visible sign of enormous wealth, prestige and status.  The worm becomes the king.

How important it is that we absorb both images in this word!  If we wear our royal robes without remembering that we are worms lifted up by the Lord of hosts, we deceive ourselves with parasitical power.  We infect the world with our self-righteous egos.  God will bring such royalty to its logical end – with the worms of the grave.  But if we remember we are dust, worms called by God for His purposes, raised to royalty by His hand, then we will wear our purple robes with constant consciousness of humility.  How can a worm become great?  Only by the favor of the Lord.  We must exhibit a royal humility by being purple worms.

Because God blesses, we become proud.  Perhaps not intentionally.  We never meant to let it all go to our heads.  But wearing purple can make us forget where we came from.  The world applauds our success and subtly we being to think that we deserved this applause.  We act as though we earned it.  Our eyes forget to look at the ground to see the worms at our feet.  We cast our view toward the heavens, imagining we belong in the clouds.  No, my friends, we are tied to the earth.  We are worms without His benevolence.  Let us never forget our true state in order that we may hear Him say to us, “I will help.”