If you are like me, there are times when you feel you can't take any more. The pressure is too great. The despair or anxiety is too much. You feel absolutely overwhelmed by your emotions. There seems to be no escape. If so, take heart, you are not alone. And there are certain things Jesus wants you to know: first, about what He won't do, and second, about what He is like.
First of all, you need to know that there are things Jesus won't do. I take great comfort in these. Isaiah declares of Him, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." (chapter 42, verse 3, NIV) What an apt description of how we feel at our lowest points, like "a bruised reed," bent nearly to the ground by the pressures we face. I know I often feel this way, bruised and bleeding, in my struggle with my bipolar spectrum disorder (BSD-II). If you are still reading, I suspect you have felt the same way. But read on! The text talks about "a smoldering wick." I can visualize the sputtering flame of a candle about to go out. Again, an apt expression for how I can feel at my lowest points.
Now consider with me the worst case outcomes in each case. The reed gets broken, and the wick gets snuffed out. This reminds me of the worst case outcome for someone in the throes of his/her mental illness. I make it a point of always referring "the S word" instead of the word itself, since I never want to go there. But I have certainly been close.
Now notice the encouragement! God promises two things he will not do--break the bent-over reed or snuff out the smoldering wick. This reminds me of what the apostle Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 10, verse 13: "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." (NASB 1995) Can't you see in the words, "beyond what you are able," God's promise not to break, to snuff out? And in the words, "so that you are able to endure it," can't you hear echoes of His promise to keep you from your breaking point, your smothering point?
But there is yet another encouragement for us bruised reeds, us smoldering wicks. It has to do with who Jesus is. In all the New Testament, there is only one place where Jesus tells us what He is like, and that is in Matthew 11, verses 28-29 (ESV). He says, "Come to me, all you labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." In other words, He can be counted on as being gentle with us, no matter how bruised we may be, or how faltering we may seem. He is the "lowly One" in the midst of all our suffering. Praise Him!
Blessings!
The Christian Bipole
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