When my sister and I were young, we loved to go to our cousins' outside of town and play in the woods and fields surrounding their house. We would spend hours planning and building forts, having picnics and exploring what seemed to us like a vast, uncharted wilderness of adventure! I remember how, in the dead of summer, the fields would grow thick with tall, scratchy grasses, especially near the flooded edges of the irrigation ditch.
The tangled, green and brown mat of reeds folded over on itself; beneath lay a viscous layer of black, oozing, suck-your-shoe-off-your-foot mud. This slimy mess proved fatal to many a pair of socks, and I often wondered how anything could grow in such stagnant conditions. But as soon as summer gave way to fall, those grasses withered yellow, bent, and crunched under our feet. The earth cracked solid, and the creek bed dried up to dust and rock once again.
Twenty years or more have passed since I've walked through those fields, and yet some days I still find myself among the reeds—bent, bruised, shaken by the wind. Some days my faith feels as though it is slipping and sinking in the mire. Some days I put down roots in the choking, stagnant pools of self and circumstance. Some days the slightest blast of heat or bite of cold withers my dry soul, and I fade.
But, oh, the gentleness of our loving Savior! Mark the tenderness of the One who strengthens us when we are broken, who sees value and beauty where none ought to exist, and who lifts us out of the mud and mire and sets our feet on solid ground (Psalm 40:2)! "A bruised reed He will not break"—a life that has been crushed underfoot, hurt by unkindness, marred and shattered beyond strength or beauty. A wavering soul that has long mucked about in the shallows of self-sufficiency and independence, never knowing of the deep, rich, soul-quenching satisfaction of a life dependent on the Father's love.
Yet take heart, o weak and broken reed! Jesus seeks out those such as yourself: "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that none may boast before Him" (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). Such a reed Jesus takes in merciful hands and mends, putting His own strength within! Such a reed the Lord blows through with a gentle whisper, making a new song of praise burst forth! Such a reed He nourishes with living water and grows with grace, transforming it into a planting for His glory!
So whatever bruises have left you feeling broken, whatever stresses and strains have you bent low, whatever slimy pit causes you to stumble, there is hope! Not the fickle hope of life's seasons or circumstances, but hope personified! Jesus Christ—our Hope, our Rock, our firm Foundation! The One whose power is made perfect in our weaknesses, and whose grace is gloriously and eternally sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9)! Look to Christ, O my soul, for blessed is the one whose trust is in Him (Psalm 40:4).