Hello my dear friends,
I have a question for you today: Are you a bruised reed?
What do you mean? (I hear you ask)
Allow me to explain.
I am meaning someone who has been crushed by life’s circumstances. Someone who has had the wind knocked out of their spiritual sails. Someone who feels at the end of their tether. Someone who has begun to question whether God will ever show up in their life and the lives of their loved ones, as deliverer, healer, restorer, and vindicator?
Are you that person?
Has tragedy struck your household?
Has the wheel of misfortune devastated your prospects?
Has a prolonged season of adversity blunted your faith?
Spiritually speaking, do you feel like a reed? Do you feel helpless against the vicissitudes of life? Do you feel as if your faith has been shaken? If so, believe me when I say, I can understand. I’ve been there!
So, what do you do when your faith has taken a knock? When beliefs you’ve held onto for years, decades even, suddenly seem foolish? Where do you go when the foundation on which you have built your life suddenly feels unstable?
You do what Job did. You praise and worship God. You refuse to move away from the hope of the gospel.
You do what David did. And trust Father God regardless of how things look, or how you feel.
You do not do what Elijah did and despair of life itself.
You look towards Jesus, who is the author and finisher (perfector or completer) of your faith.
I mentioned a moment ago that I’ve been in that place of spiritual despair. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit (to whom I appealed), helped me and gently hauled me out of my pit of despondency. He led me back towards the loving arms of Jesus – the Good Shephard and Overseer of my soul.
And Jesus ushered me into his beautiful, green, and pleasant pastures of renewed hope. Steering me away from the path of disillusionment, my precious Lord settled me besides his still, quiet waters of spiritual refreshment. I am grateful.
You see, when my sister died earlier this year, I was devastated. She was not just my sister. She was a dear close friend. We spent decades of our lives together, sharing dreams and experiences, shopping, discussing our likes, dislikes, and opinions – on fashion, home décor, gardening, those in the public eye whom we admired, and much more. We holidayed and socialised together. We fought and fell out at times, but we truly loved one another and had a deep connection.
So, when she died, I felt like Naomi. I felt angry and disappointed with God. Why had he not heard and answered her prayers? Why had he not heard and answered my prayers? Why was there this ever-increasing sense of spiritual dissonance between my faith-motivated expectations and the subsequent results of my experiences, in comparison to the miraculous accounts in God’s Word?
Why? Why? Why?
Now such honest questions need to be asked and I don’t believe God is offended when we do. After all, throughout Psalms we see similar questions being asked. However, we do need to watch out that the Enemy of our souls does not ride in upon the tide of our discouragement and add his evil, disingenuous suggestions to the mix…
- If God loves you, why did he allow her to die, knowing what a big hole her absence would bring to your life?
- Didn’t God say: You shall pray for the sick and they will recover? Why didn’t she recover?
- Where is that miracle-working power in which you so firmly believe? Where is it when you need it?
…because once you start listening to Satan’s goading, designed to make you doubt God and the veracity of his Word, he then turns his faith-poisoning darts upon you.
Perhaps you are just not spiritual enough. Perhaps… Perhaps… Perhaps…
And if you allow this kind of mental dialogue to continue, then it won’t be long before (as Elijah did), you feel so despondent you want to throw in the towel… you want to bow out (i.e., commit spiritual suicide!). You feel tempted to abandon your beliefs, dismiss your faith and give up your hard-fought ground of spiritual territory.
If that’s you my beloved friend and sister in Christ, and you feel like a crushed or broken reed, God wants to encourage you today. Refuse to listen to the lies and taunts of the Enemy against yourself. Refuse to consider the false accusations he is levelling against the Lord. Ignore your feelings and lift that shield of faith today (and every day), to quench Satan’s fiery darts of doubt and fear.
Listen my friend, Jesus can relate to every situation you might go through. He lost a close family member in the most horrendous fashion (His cousin John the Baptist was decapitated). He was sensitive to Simon Peter’s complete lack of spiritual confidence, after denying that he knew Jesus. And the fact of Peter’s denial seems even more awful once you realise that Jesus was his half-brother (Matthew 13:55).
Although Jesus had re-named him from Simon “a reed”, to Peter “a stone”, I can imagine that at this point (following his betrayal), Peter saw himself more as a reed – and a crushed one at that!
God’s Word tells us that that Jesus is so loving and compassionate, he will not crush an already bruised reed (see Isaiah 42:3). In the same way Jesus reached out to and restored Peter after his crisis of spiritual confidence, he will reach out to you.
And so today, my heart goes out to all broken, crushed, or shaken reeds (past, present, and future). I pray your faith will not fail. I pray God will meet you where you are at and minister to your deepest hurts and cries.
PRAYER:
Loving Father and Faithful Friend,
I ask that you reach out right now and touch the heart and soul of any reader who fits the description of a bruised reed, regardless of how they arrived at this situation. Let not the deception and plan of the Enemy prevail within these precious lives.
Holy Spirit, hover over and minister to each one until they experience healing from their hurts and fresh hope to face their future.
In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.
Have a wonderfully blessed and victorious week!
With love,
Carol E. Hind
Author/Blogger/Prayer Advocate
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