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 sometimes feel like we are "smoking flax," or a "bruised reed"? If so, let us not lose heart. We possess the life of the Person of Jesus, but our ex-perience of Him seems to ebb so low, that we may wonder if it is still viable (life). Thankfully, though every regenerated churchman will have low times; our light (and life) in Christ will never completely go out, or be dissolved.
God does, on occasion, allow His children to experience faint pulsations of spiritual life, in order to "kick-start" us to something much better. We should never be content with being "barely alive"; and we should seek grace in our Redeemer to be more fully "fanned into flame”—but, at the same time, we should never despair (of anything). As we are in Jesus (and His church) we are ultimately safe, and successful.
[Puritan quote of the day: "The way to keep Satan out of our ‘country,' is to attack his.” —William Bridge, in, "A Lifting Up For the Downcast"]
