Matthew 12:20
“A BENT REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A DIMLY BURNING WICK HE WILL NOT EXTINGUISH”.
This passage wasn’t on my radar until a couple years ago. It says so much about Jesus’ nature. He’s so caring. He isn’t giving up hope, but is interested in the little bit we have left and to restore it.
Both of these things are worthless unto themselves. There are millions of reeds out there. Normally people trod over them without regard to preserving them. The message isn’t that God cares about reeds. But of the slightest sign of what we’ve got.
As an early believer my conception of God was harsh and demanding. I might have repeated that “God is love”, but I didn’t believe it practically. The passages I knew were ones that had me coming up short, like “Love the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength”. About five years into faith I began to hear about grace and things loosened up.
Matthew 11:28-30 was another passage that let me see the kindness of Jesus, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.” My concept of God was nothing like this. This is amazing.
God knows if we are a bent reed or a flickering wick. This seems so insignificant, but He knows and cares. He would like to attend to it. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. He knows and wants heal us.
We might feel small, but He sees us. That feeling of insignificance He wants to attend to. That comes before our bent state. Just like the billions of reeds, there are billions of people. Too much to attend to. But not for God. He sees us and wants to help.
When I see a bent reed it seems beyond help. Can it be splinted and restored? I’m not sure. But God can help us. He wants to. Then we have the flickering wick. This could be the environments being so windy the flame is having trouble staying lit. It could be there is a little wick left and we’re burning out. Maybe it’s a hard part of the wax that isn’t melting which is threatening the flame. God sees and wants to make us burn bright.
He calls us the “light of the world”. He wants us to burn brightly as a witness to Him. That’s His Work. As we are in Him, in fellowship He is working on us. We might not feel like a light, but we are. The more we love and share of Him, the brighter we are. At times we are a flickering wick. In His hands we have nothing to worry about. He restores us.
We are to take on the same ministry of having compassion on bent reeds and flickering wicks. We are to care for all Him brings across our paths.
Lord, thank You for being so caring. All the time. The work You’ve done in us is amazing. Help us to help others.