All nations before Him are nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity.
How can anything be "less than nothing"? Yet there it is! The Lord of creation and providence counts the mightiest nations as not worthy of His consideration. They are all one notch below "nothing". In light of this, how shall we evaluate each individual? Surely he is less than that which is less than nothing. That ain't much brother! Yet man in his boasted "free-will" considers himself as master of his own fate.
The height, the totality, the complete essence of all human pride is bound up in these words: "man's free-will." And so this will that is so powerful that nothing can stand against it, comes before its Creator with the ropes by which it will bind "Him that looks down from heaven." God says, "Here is my purpose," and man begins to rope and tie that which God intends.
Oh, how I would rather fall headlong into that counsel of the Lord which He executeth. (Is. 46:10, 11) Having just experienced the surgeons knife, how was it done with peace of heart? Because just prior to the blackness of anesthesia, it was brought to my mind the great truth of Ps. 107:29 "He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still."
Here is the quietness of the Almighty. He has purposed what I am to endure, and no one can do anything at all against His exact movements in this thing. God directs the scalpel and the hand that holds it. Can anyone cut me where He has not intended? Can any blood escape my body that He ordained not? Of course not!
In light of these great truths, can I not entrust to Him that great eternal soul that He has created? Yes, I throw my "free will into the ocean of his eternal purpose and say, "Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean" (Matt. 8:2). Life or death; what difference as long as we are at peace with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? We who are "less than nothing" are now "all things'' in Christ's precious blood.