One of the great themes of the bible emphasizes how God
makes something out of nothing. Let’s look at some examples.
Of course there is the story of creation itself. In the
beginning there was nothing – or at least a disordered chaos – and God called
“into existence the things that do not exist,” (Romans 4.17).
Even God’s choice of the people of Israel to be his
treasured possession emphasizes their insignificance: “It was not because you
were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the
fewest of all peoples,” (Deuteronomy 7.7). God could have chosen a mighty
empire for himself: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia… but God takes particular
concern for underdogs, the weak, the poor, those whom others hold of no
account:
“He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and
rejected by others … and we held him of no account. Isaiah 53.2-3
Surely there were people, nations, whose form, majesty,
appearance might have attracted God’s attention and special concern, but, as
the Apostle Paul writes:
“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low
and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things
that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 1 Corinthians
1.27-29
Or consider the story of David and Goliath. David was a
little shepherd boy. David had no form or majesty, nothing in his appearance
that we should hope in him. On the other hand, there was Goliath, a giant of a
man, skilled in battle:
“And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a
champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had
a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the
weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of
bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The
shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six
hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 1 Samuel
17.4-7
You know how that turned out!
And where was the Savior from; a mighty and renowned
metropolis? No. “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little
clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel,”
(Micah 5.2).
This theme is demonstrated in God himself. God may be sovereign and majestic, all powerful and all knowing; yet, in Jesus Christ, God divests himself of his sovereign majesty and power, takes on our mortal flesh, and makes dwells among us:
“Though he was in the form of God, [Christ Jesus] did
not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in
human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even
death on a cross. Philippians 2.6-8
It is God’s way to create something out of nothing. The
Apostle Paul warns that: “If those who are nothing think they are something,
they deceive themselves,” (Galatians 6.3). But Paul also reassures us! “We are
what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand to be our way of life,” (Ephesians 2.10).
You are what God has made you to be. As Paul says of himself: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain,” (1 Corinthians 15.10).
By the grace of God you are what you are. By grace; not by the Law, not by your upbringing, not by your work, not by the world, not by the devil and all his lies and evil tricks, but by God’s grace toward you; and this has not been in vain.
You may feel small, insignificant, nothing, but that is
precisely the kind of material God makes something out of. Take hold of God’s
promise. Believe it. Stand fast in it. Do “not fear, though the earth should
change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,” (Psalm 46.2). God
is with you. “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among
you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 1.6).
