“A BRUISED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT SNUFF OUT.” —ISAIAH 42:3 (NIV)
Around 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah described the heart and character of the coming Messiah:
He would not break someone already broken and battered; nor would He further quench a person about to have his remaining life and hope extinguished. Instead, His nature would be to watch over, protect, and fan back into life. The Messiah would be kind and tender-hearted.
Jesus came to save sinners, you and me, and we weren’t in the process of cleaning up our lives when He came looking for us. We were still sinning. We enjoyed it, or thought we did.
We held wrong ideas about God and had little interest in repenting.
You might know some people like this where you work, go to school, or conduct business. You may have to deal with individuals who are hard and bitter. Maybe they drink too much away from the job, take drugs, or use people for their own purposes.
Some may have had a religious upbringing but grew disillusioned by some event or person; now they pollute the work environment with foul, angry words and often take the Lord’s name in vain. And it just grates on your soul.
A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.
Sometimes people who tread lonely and painful places cover up with abusive language and unhelpful behavior.
Can we hear Jesus’ heart toward the bruised and battered?
Yes, they’re lost. But Jesus calls us to look beyond. He calls us to love people—sinners, as we once were—the same way He loved us, kindly and with tenderness. Love the hard, bitter individual; the alcoholic, addict, and swearers even as they swear.
Don’t wait until you see something better in them. Sit for a moment and get in touch with Jesus’ love for you…even when you were rebelling against Him. Feel that tender and intense love, and let Him love them through you. That’s what He longs to do.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” —Romans 5:8
