Fear Not

Isaiah 41:14-16 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The Lord, beloved in Him, in this chapter is looking upon the case of a captive people, looking upon the case of a people that were both weak, few, poor, and were also amidst the midst of their enemies. And the Lord knows well what are the thoughts of His children when they are in such a case. He knows well enough what is in the heart of these who are strangers unto Him. And He knows also the heart and thoughts of His people when they are in captivity. And for that reason, to hold up their head above the water, which now might have swallowed them up, and put them in peril of losing for ever the promise that the Lord had made, in the words that now are read there is an encouragement given unto the captive Kirk, unto a base, miserable, weak, and destitute people, amongst the midst of their enemies.
There is an encouragement, "Fear not."
"Fear not," says the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. There is a reason of this taken from a promise of God. In general terms on God's part, "I will help thee;" secondly more particularly on the people's part, what they shall be, "I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." All the powers in the world that are against thee, albeit they be grown, and high above the rest, as indeed the enemies of the kirk of Christ, they are swelled pieces of clay, and yet the Lord says that the Kirk shall get strength from Him to thrash these mountains, and to beat the hills, &c. And lastly by whose strength is this done, and who shall get the thanks for it? "Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel." That is, thou shalt thank Me for doing of this, and not thyself and power.
—Samuel Rutherford from the sermon, "Fear Not, Thou worm of Jacob."