If you are like me, you encounter a lot of hurting people – people ready to give up, give in, or give out. Life has a way of sucking the wind right out of the sails that navigate us through the sea of life.
In Matthew 12:15-20, Matthew – under Holy Spirit inspiration – applies prophecies from Isaiah to Jesus. In once such prophecy from Isaiah 42:3, Matthew (12:20) says if Jesus,
“A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench.”
– Matthew 12:20
He will not finished off the bruised and He will not extinguished the burned out. Bruised and burned out. Every felt that way? I have.
The good news is that if you feel bruised and burned out, Jesus has not forsaken you. He will not trim you away or douse the last ounce of flickering flame left in your soul. He will set things right again. His work may not be completed until the Last Day, but rest assured, weary pilgrim, that work WILL be complete. (Philippians 1:6) So what can you do in the meantime?
First, if you are bruised or burned out because of sin you have allowed in your life, confess that sin and claim the forgiveness that He promises to all who confess. Ask Him for the grace to “go and sin no more.” When the devil comes to remind you of those sins again, remind him that you and Jesus have dealt with that and you are moving on.
Second, if you are bruised or burned out by others who have hurt you, forgive them and pray for them. In forgiving them you release the burden from your heart and roll it off for God to manage. In praying for them, you pray that God would change their heart and heal whatever hurt they harbor that causes them to hurt others. (Luke 6:27-28)
Finally, if you are bruised or burned out because of your circumstances, ask God to give you strength to endure and wisdom through those circumstances. Ask God to teach you lessons and develop your character through these bruising and burning circumstances. Remember, Peter never would have walked in the water had he not been in a storm. God often uses the most desperate of our circumstances to show us His glory and teach us great lessons. (James 1:2-8, 12)
Bring your tired, weary, stressed, hurt, and burned out to Jesus. It’s not the strong who survive, but those who recognize their weakness, and come to Him that truly find help. In Jesus, only the weak survive.