(from 9/21/23)
Isaiah 42:3
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
In 1997, someone handed me a small piece of paper with the first part of this verse: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
I gripped it and clung to it in hope that the trial I was experiencing would eventually pass and I would have survived it.
Only today did the rest of that verse register with me: “In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;”. If that part of the verse had been included on that day it likely would have terrified me and I would have cast it away from me in fear……. I would have known at the core of my being that God was visiting justice upon me, for I alone and my own choices were ultimately the cause of the trial in which I found myself. But even as I struggled under the burden of the trial, I felt the Lord’s Presence and Love for me in a personal and intimate way…like a Father in tears as He finds it necessary to sternly discipline His child.
God is a holy and just God. He does not overlook my rebellion and dishonor. He did not excuse my ignorance; I had no excuse for ignorance. He had told me what was right and I had disregarded it. Even so, the discipline I received was a blessing. It could have been so much more painful and consequential. But He was merciful and kind and instructed my heart while breaking it, promised that He would renew it better than its previous twisted, contorted, and toward-self-turned misshapen form.
And so, today, in hindsight I see the justice of God in my own life. And there is no reason to believe that any of my further transgressions have been or will go uncorrected……
And not only mine, but those of God’s church and those of the nations on whom God has shown favor only to be pushed aside with disdain and disregard by its leaders and its fat and complacent citizens…… of which I am one. ( CBB 9/21/23)