The Bruised Reed

Isaiah 42:1-4
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope".

This month I had the chance to read through an amazing little book by the great Puritan preacher and writer, Richard Sibbes. The book is entitled, "The Bruised Reed". Sibbes takes the verses listed above in the book and talks first about Christ from these verses. Then after he writes about Christ as the bruised reed, works through the union the Christian has with Christ as a bruised reed and how Christ as a victorious bruised reed gives the Christian hope, which is the larger portion of the book.

The book was such a great encouragement to me. For any Christian who feels like life is bruising them or that they are in a serious dry season of life, this book would be a great read. But I am not in a season of life like that. Right now I feel totally blessed, energized, and excited for what God is doing in and through me. I also feel very assured in my salvation and confident in my work for Christ. Yet this book still impacted me greatly. In fact, this book gave me more confidence and assurance than I already had.

And this happened becasue the greatest treasure I found in the book was Sibbes truth that becasue Christ was bruised but never broken, we also who are in union with Christ will be bruised but never broken. This truth gives me full confidence because I know that as life beats me up and bruises me, I will never be broken down and the season that I am in, is guaranteed to be over at some point. Like I shared last week in my posts about our union with Christ, this book and our bruising in life cemented more in my mind what a great union with Christ we have. Our Savior was bruised for our transgression so if we align with Him, we are guaranteed to also be bruised. But our Savior was never broken, and as Sibbes points out, was guaranteed to have victory. We also in union with Christ then are guaranteed to also have victory and we can hold to this truth in those bruising moments of this life.

Here are some quotes from the book that touched me;
-"After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks".
-"After we are gained to Christ ourselves, we should labour to gain others to Christ".
-"...the more sin is seen, the more it is hated, and therefore it is less".
-"The first and chief ground of our comfort is that Christ as a priest offered himself as a sacrifice to his Father for us".
-"Those that can bring their hearts to delight in Christ know most of his ways".