Mon., 6/10/19 Devotion (Isa. 42:3a)

Today's encouragement comes from Isaiah 42:3a, where we read these words:

"A bruised reed He [Christ] will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench . . . "

Do we feel sometimes like "smoking flax," or "bruised reeds"? We have life in us, but it has ebbed so low that we wonder if it is still viable. Let us take heart. Every regenerated churchman will have low times; but our light (and life) will never completely go out, or be dissolved. And all of this is because of Jesus, who *is* our Life; and He cannot be extinguished in us.

The Lord sometimes allows us to experience faint pulsations of spiritual life, so as to "kick-start" us to something much better. We should never be content with being "barely alive"; and we should seek grace in Christ to be more fully "fanned into flame”—but, at the same time, we should never despair (of any-thing). Since we are in Christ (and His church) we are ultimately safe, and successful.

[Puritan quote of the day: "The way to keep the enemy [Satan] out of our country, is to fall upon [attack] his.” —William Bridge, in "A Lifting Up for the Downcast"]