_LEAVING ITS MARK_
"_Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will make thee a threshing
instrument with teeth._"
--ISAIAH xli. 8-14.
Could any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and an instrument
with teeth? The worm is delicate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath a
passing wheel; an instrument with teeth can break and not be broken, it
can grave its mark upon the rock. And the mighty God can convert the one
into the other. He can take a man or a nation, who has all the impotence
of the worm, and by the invigoration of His own Spirit He can endow them
with strength by which they will leave a noble mark upon the history of
their time.
And so the "worm" may take heart. The mighty God can make us stronger than
our circumstances. We can bend them all to our good. In God's strength we
can make them all pay tribute to our souls. We can even take hold of a
black disappointment, break it open, and extract some jewel of grace. When
God gives us wills like iron we can drive through difficulties as the iron
share cuts through the toughest soil. "I will make thee," saith the Lord,
"and shall He not do it?"