Bruised Reeds

Have you ever strolled through a field of wheat straw and noticed the stalks that were bent as you walked through them? Not completely broken, they became what we call, "bruised". Now, have you ever tried to fix one of those bruised reeds? Impossible. In attempting to help it stand erect again, regardless of how careful we may try to be, we will only damage it further. Our most delicate attention will be too harsh, too much of a burden for the reed's bruised stem to bear, and inadvertent as it may be, any effort we make to help the bruised reed will only hasten its inevitable collapse.

Have you ever made a fire of flax-like straw, and watched it burst quickly into yellow and red life - then almost as quickly fade to white, smoking ashes? Those thin streams of smoke, I learned as a boy, meant that the straw was beyond hope of rekindling. Glowing embers of a wood fire can be brought back to flames, but any attempt to blow smoking flax back to life will only scatter the lightweight ashes. All human efforts to rekindle smoking flax only hasten its end.

Some people are like bruised reeds and smoking flax. They've been run over by life, or have burned out on its pleasures, and though not altogether gone, they are deeply and irreparably bruised in spirit. They are discouraged, sometimes bitter, and often they attempt to hide their deep hurt and helpless confusion behind a facade of self-confidence and aggression.

They have experienced the truth of Solomon's observation that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill" (Eccl.9:11). They see others receive honor and prosperity, and they know that had life's vicissitudes moved differently, they could have had the successful business, or the happy home, or could have been a great athlete or a revered doctor or teacher.

These are the ones who have had dreams shattered, who have lost a darling child, or who have been afflicted with a debilitating disease. These are the ones who labored extra hours to overcome a huge debt and suddenly were confronted with yet another financially crushing burden. These are the discouraged, the downtrodden, the "ne'er-do-wells", and the almost blessed. These are the bruised reeds of earth, the smoking flax of humanity; not yet completely broken, not yet cold, but helplessly on the way there.

There is a depth of shame so great that all human efforts to help merely chase the pain deeper into the secret chambers of the heart, a sorrow and bitterness that seem to swallow all hope. Especially is this true when a sacred trust is violated, when the minister or counselor takes advantage of a distraught, trusting woman, or when a spouse has been unfaithful, or when a friend carelessly betrays the confidence of a friend.

It is to these that Jesus first was sent. These who made an effort and failed. The humiliated, the forsaken, the misunderstood, the ostracized. These who had the ability but who squandered their chance to use it, and now are growing old. It is to these, whose bruised spirits are being pressed ever farther down by the weight of the world's merciless criticism, that Jesus was first of all sent.

In Jesus' first sermon in his hometown, he quoted Isaiah, saying that Isaiah's words applied to himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised" (Lk.4:18).

The compassion of the Father for the downtrodden is reflected in these brilliant lines from an old hymn:

King David, after his disgraceful adultery with Bathsheba, and his murder of her godly husband in an attempt to hide his sin, must have felt unworthy to be king any longer. And how difficult it must have been for some to continue to bow before him! Life became a living nightmare, and the longer he resisted God's demand to confess his sin and repent, the more miserable he became. "When I kept silence, all my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long," David later recalled. "Day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer." David finally capitulated to the conviction of the holy Spirit. "I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, `I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord', and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin" (Ps.32:5).

No one but God could have healed David's wounded spirit. His sin had brought him low, but God's grace lifted him up. God enabled David to wake in the morning and once again look forward to what the day had in store. By His mysterious power to comfort, He restored joy to David's wounded heart. Some people never forgave David for his sin, but David, knowing that he had fully repented and had been forgiven by God, was able to live out his days with a meek and peaceful spirit, even though he was sorely punished for his transgression. God's tender mercy enabled the bruised king to rejoice again in the Lord.

When we have failed, when we have disgraced our-selves and those we love, and no man will be our friend, it seems that we can never hold up our heads again. But God, who "rescues the perishing", is able to rekindle our desire to live. He is able to restore joy to a ruined life. King David called God "the restorer of my soul" and the "lifter up of my head". Any one who has disgraced himself as David did can understand how good it is to have God's loving, unseen hand lift up his head and restore to his heart a desire to live.

It is the anointing of God which alone is able to remove the yoke of despair. Only His anointing knows how to touch the hurt without making it worse. Only by a holy unction can any man minister God's healing grace to a wounded soul. One prophecy of Christ said, "The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word to him that is weary." How precious are "words fitly spoken"! They are indeed like "apples of gold in pictures of silver". Burdens are lifted - indeed, lives are saved - by words which spring from the holy love of God.

Jesus's anointing with his Father's Spirit (Acts 10:38) wasn't only for the healing of physical disorders. It was also an anointing for tenderness and wisdom. Speaking to his Father, Christ said through the prophet, "Thy gentleness hath made me great." Nobody but Jesus could have touched the heart of the Samaritan woman who had suffered through five failed marriages. No one else could have reached the Zacchaeus, whose diminutive body matched the very low esteem in which he was held by his fellow Jews. And who but Jesus could have rescued Peter from the prison of self-condemnation after Peter had cursed and sworn that he did not even know his Lord?

My wasted life, too, was made worth living only because of Jesus. All that I have and all that I am is his gift of grace to me. He took me from the trash heap, after I had foolishly thrown my life away; and he gave me a home, a place to labor in his kingdom, and friends that are faithful to me because their first allegiance is to God. I can face tomorrow, and more importantly, I can face today, only because he loved me and called me out of darkness into light. I praise him with all my heart for his mercy. He is truly "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

Some may pride themselves for succeeding in this life, but Jesus came for the sake of those who fail. He was sent as a Friend to the friendless, a Mender of broken hearts, a Comforter for those who mourn, a Hero of the helpless, and a Bearer of burdens for those who are "heavily laden". Long before his birth in Bethlehem, we were told of his gentleness and grace. But in no terms was the depth of his lovingkindness better described than in these words from the prophet Isaiah: "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench."

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