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A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”Isaiah 42:3-4
Our family loves to go camping every opportunity we can. There’s something about hooking up the camper and heading into the woods to get away from it all, even if for only a couple days. On one such camping trip we stopped at the gift shop of the campgrounds we would call home for several days.
While we all love camping, my daughter enjoys it the most. She like the conveniences of a full service campground with playgrounds and pools, but she is equally enthralled with escaping to the remotest places in the world (our world anyway) to enjoy the barest of facilities.
On this particular occasion she saw a fire-starting kit complete with flint and steel. Now, mind you, I am NOT a Boy Scout. My idea of starting a fire in remote areas is making sure my Aim & Flame is fresh and ready to go! However, we bought the kit and proceeded to our campsite to start the fire that would cook our supper.
The task was quite a challenge for one novice and a young child. We tried over and over to get the flame started. A couple times we got a small piece of leaf to smolder but time and again it would die out and we’d have to start over. I confess to you that we gave up. Hunger proved more of an incentive than rustic living!
When Isaiah was writing to the nation of Israel they were a tired nation. Largely due to their own rebellion, they were suffering under enemy rule as God’s judgment of their idolatry. They were tired. They were full of hopelessness. They saw no easy solution to their problems. Many died never seeing the deliverance promised them.
Later, Matthew would quote Isaiah in his gospel. Not many things had changed for Israel. They were still a people under bondage. They were still a people in hopeless despair. They were economically depressed, politically oppressed and religiously distressed. Then Jesus came.
Isaiah’s description of the Messiah was just what the people needed in his day, during the time Jesus walked this earth and today as well.
We need a Savior who will understand the delicacy of a smoldering wick. We need a Savior that understands our fragile condition. We need a Savior that realizes that just one more puff of wind may put an end to our ability to cope.
As we feel the life ebb from our emotional souls it’s easy to look for the easy solution, to look at what I like to call the three R’s of life: Religion, Riches and Relationships. The problem is that we have learned, or are learning the hard way that none of these help. All of them may seem to fan the flame for a time, but eventually they snuff us out.
Jesus didn’t come to snuff out our flame. He didn’t come to break us into submission. This God that can calm the storm; this God that hangs the stars in their place; this God that casts out demons, is also a God of gentleness. He comes to shore us up in our weakness, to fan the flame that has all but died out in our souls.
Regardless of what is attacking you now, realize that Jesus Christ came to gently, but firmly rekindle the flame within you. It may take time, but he has all the time in the world.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I thank you this morning for the power you showed in the storms of Galilee; how you healed the sick, the lame and those hounded by demons. Most of all, Lord Jesus I thank you that in my weakest moments when I feel the flame of my hope about to be snuffed out, you come to me to fan the flame once again in my soul. Amen.
As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Matthew 13:4
It had 
been a dry summer. The ground was hardened and cracked by the lack of moisture and the penetrating rays of the sun. Then the rain came. It wasn’t just a shower, it was a downpour. Raindrops pelted the ground viciously. Lightning and thunder joined in the onslaught. The ground became a river of mud. Then, it was gone. The sun came out, the skies cleared; the ground dried and once again was hardened.
I talked with an old farmer later that day. I mentioned how nice it was that we finally got some rain. I was surprised by the look of disappointment on his face. He took his hat off and rubbed his scalp.
“Didn’t do much good.” He mumbled as he replaced his hat, “Grounds to hard. Just ran off. What we need is a couple days of soft, gentle rain to soften up the ground so the moisture can get in.”
His words weren’t even out of his mouth when I remembered the story of the Sower and the Seed. Personally, I think the title is misleading. The seed really has little to do with the story. The Sower has some impact of course, but the main emphasis is on soil.
Hardened soil has something in common with hardened hearts. Hardened soil, in particular the hardened soil in this story, became hard because it was part of the roadway. Know what happens with a roadway? It gets trampled on. Day after day, week after week, month after month donkeys and horses and oxen and people walked up and down the path.
Our hearts are like that sometimes aren’t they? We all start out with hope and joy. Watch the wonderment and excitement of infants and toddlers if you don’t believe me. Every event is new. Every object is a chance to explore (and perhaps attempt to eat!)
But something happens to our heart. People, places and events walk all over our soul. At first it hurts. But the more we are trampled the harder we get until we lose all feeling. Then nothing seems to matter anymore.
Hardened soil reminds us of two dangers of hardened hearts. One is a warning of sorts not to become hardened in the first place. Soil, like the heart, never becomes hard when it is nurtured. The only thing I’ve found to keep my heart soft is the realization of how much I am loved by Jesus Christ. People fail me. I fail people. Jesus never fails.
The second danger concerning hardened hearts is the assumption that once a heart is hardened it can never become soft again. This is a tool of the enemy of our souls. Hardened hearts become soft the same way they stay soft, with nurturing. If you pour a bucket of water on hard ground it runs off with little penetration and you may think the situation hopeless. But slowly run a garden hose over the area and after time the water stops running OFF and it runs IN. It takes time, patience and gentleness to soften hard ground. The heart requires it even more.
The same thing is true of a hardened heart. You may not think your kindness is doing any good but time, patience and gentleness, empowered by the love of Christ, can do wonders on a hardened heart.
PRAYER: Lord, I confess to you that my heart has grown hard by the things others have done to me. At times I’ve even blamed you! I’ve grown weary trying to love those you love because their hardness seems impenetrable. May I experience the gentle, penetrating and softening rain of your love in my heart so that I can share it with others. Amen.
“For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” (Ephesians 2:14)
This past Advent season we spent out time examining the names given to the baby in the manger by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6). Although I’ve heard this passage many times, and spoken on it several times as well, this year I was given insights never seen before. That’s one of the amazing things about the Bible, for those of us who study it. The most familiar passages can constantly bring new meaning to our lives as we open our minds to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit.
The last Sunday in December we were reminded that Jesus is our Prince of Peace. Peace is something that eludes a vast majority of the world’s population. Some are entangled in conflicts that eventually take their lives either through violence, disease or natural disaster. Others are engaged in conflicts of the soul, struggling with emotional or mental illness, various kinds of addictions or the hidden bruises of abuse.
Jesus IS our Peace. The word peace in Isaiah 9:6, is the Hebrew word SHALOM. SHALOM goes far beyond what most of us think of as peace. SHALOM peace, goes far beyond the superficial peace of prosperity, lack of conflict and good health. SHALOM peace goes directly to the very depths of the soul.
The real beauty of SHALOM peace? It’s unaffected by our circumstances. The day before I wrote this article, a dear friend of mine lost his wife (temporarily) to cancer. One day they will be reunited with their savior. It was amazing to watch her over the years. The disease ravaged her body, but her spirit remained at peace in the arms of her Lord and Savior. Renee was an inspiration to us all.
That brings up another aspect of SHALOM peace. In its essence, SHALOM peace naturally overflows to those around us when practiced gracefully. SHALOM peace isn’t concerned about political correctness, homophobia, intolerance or racism. The goal of SHALOM peace is to bring unity.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians states, “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” (Ephesians 2:14)
The disciple of Jesus Christ knows peace even during those times we are misunderstood, falsely accused, or ‘labeled’ because we know that our validity isn’t dependent on what others think, but on how God views us. ALL people are created in his image. He doesn’t want anyone to perish. That’s why he sent Jesus to be our reconciliation to him, and to have a ministry of reconciliation to others.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for our precious Prince of Peace who stands by me in the most difficult of situations. Help me to live SHALOM peace in my own life so that it may spread to others. Amen.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
What does it mean to us that Jesus is our Mighty God?
First of all, as mighty God we know that he was in the beginning and created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1).
Secondly we know that all creation, everything seen and unseen was created by him for his own good pleasure.
A third reason the deity of Jesus is important is that it gives us a view of exactly what God is like (John 1:14).
It’s far too easy to think of God as being this elusive spirit-being who is far too big and powerful to be concerned about miniscule humans such as us. By becoming human, Jesus not only proves he completely understands us and what we go through, he shows us the personal relationship the creator-God longs to have with us.
Take, for example the story of Jesus’ visit with a Samaritan woman. One day he and his disciples were on their way to Galilee. They stopped along the way for something to eat at a small town in Samaria. Samaria was enemy territory for every self-respecting Jew. Jesus met a woman at the well he was resting at while the men went to get food.
Jesus’ conversation with the woman shows us a great picture of a mighty God. A God who seeks you out regardless of your situation, or the excuses you live by, or your efforts to make it your way so he can fill you to the fullest in His time.
Jesus sought the woman out. His meeting with her wasn’t one of chance. In the same way, he seeks you out. He wants to meet your needs. He wants to have a vibrant relationship with you.
Secondly, he is unconcerned about your situation. The woman was at the well at midday because she was a woman of ill repute. No doubt she was the talk of the town for her five failed marriages and living with her current partner outside the walls of wedlock.
Jesus isn’t concerned about your excuses either. When confronted with her emptiness, the woman tried to argue her way out of a sticky situation. Isn’t that the way we tend to be as well? When met with conflict we play the blame game, try to change the subject or take the focus off ourselves and put it on someone or something else? The woman chose religion as her escape route but Jesus turned everything back on her own emptiness.
Jesus isn’t impressed with your attempts to make it on your own either. In a sense Jesus played a trump card when he asked about the woman’s husband. She’d tried relationships five times! Five times she’d failed! Five times she’d told herself, “This is the one!” Now, she’d come to a point where the pain of divorce was too much. She elected to live without marriage to avoid more pain of failure.
Why did he overlook all those things? Because Jesus’ desire wasn’t to prove himself, it was to offer the woman fulfillment, a spring of living water flowing from her wounded heart.
The same is true today. Jesus isn’t concerned about your situation, your excuses or how you’ve succeeded or failed trying to make life on your own. As Mighty God his desire is to fill you to overflowing with forgiveness, grace and unconditional love.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for such a great love that you sought me out when my life was at its lowest. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 