About Bruised Reeds

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,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

Isaiah 42:1–3

The tenderness of Christ is emphasized in these prophetic verses from the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit of God is upon Him to bring about justice, the rule of God in lives. He will not enter scenes with fanfare and pomp, as princes did in Isaiah’s day and self-important people do in our day. Rather he comes in the form of a servant, quietly, humbly, but with real power and authority to do the redemptive work of God.

Perhaps you have felt like a bruised reed, one bent and broken, barely hanging on to hope and life. The world tosses aside such people, but Christ pulls them to His heart and restores their lives. Betrayals, disappointments, personal failures, tragedies, and all experiences that maim our hearts and destroy our hope, Christ comes to us in the midst of our difficulties with the gentle message of His love.

In missionary ministry to impoverished people I have seen people affected by tragedy that they seemed like bruised reeds. Already they were weak as a reed, but then a typhoon comes, or a landslide, or a monsoon flood, or disease ravages their children and they stand grieving by the graveside of the only beauty they have personally known. We shut our eyes to such people, imagining that their darker skin and colorless rags that lets them blend into the scenery also makes them less human. But the help and power and strength and compassion of Christ is directed toward them with intensity. He establishes justice and empowers those who are as weak as reeds to become as strong as oaks.

Or maybe it is the image of the smoldering wick that you connect with, one that had previously brought light to a home but now is nearly extinguished. Even we Christians are too quick to judge and cast aside those believers who seem less productive than they were before, former church members, even church leaders who now themselves struggle in their faith. These often turn sour in life and are quick to accuse others, and we feel it best to keep our distance from them. But, again, Christ quietly and tenderly enters into the situation to redeem. Christ does not extinguish the flame of His love or His presence, but feeds and fans it till it is restored, until forgiveness is felt and shared with others.

God is always at work around us, but it seems the devil is also. A gospel that does not restore the broken and renew hope in the hopeless is no gospel at all, for all of can relate to these images. A bruised reed can apply to a person of wealth just as it can to the impoverished, and the flame of Christ’s love may be close to going out in any heart, even in those who doubts we do not suspect.

The gentle voice of Christ is calling to you today to renew your hope and strength.

Prayer:

Lord, let us listen to Your Voice that is gentle yet firm. Restore us and rekindle Your hope within. Amen.