Isaiah 10:5-6a, 15

‘Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it?
Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?
As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up,
Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!’ (Isaiah 10:15)

The message of this verse is simple and to the point. In the previous verses, God has described Assyria (the new world power, as it were) as:

‘…the rod of My anger,
And the staff in who hand is My indignation,
I will send him…’ (Isaiah 10:5-6a)

As we have discovered in previous chapters, God is using Assyria for His purposes (whistling for them to come), in order to judge Jerusalem. But it seems they have not got the message to ‘gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces’, because they think it is all them that have this power. They boast in their military achievements, with arrogant hearts saying that cities in Israel are the same as cities in Assyria. So God presents us with a simple and profoundly intuitive analogy.

Assyria is but an ax or saw in the hands of the Almighty God. How can an ax boast in what it does without realizing the person who wielded it? It just doesn’t make any sense at all. In fact it is laughable. And yet the Assyrians are doing just that.

Let’s not ourselves fall into the same trap. Without Him we can do nothing. We are but a piece of wood without Him who wields us. This affects every single thing we do. For if it is us that does it, we should rely on our strength, intellect, will, what have you. If indeed it is God that does it, we should rely only on His strength, wisdom and will. In everything you do today (and hopefully every day) reason with yourself that it is God that effects it.