I have joined Challies in his “Reading The Classics Together” and his selection was The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes.  Getting up early, while sipping my coffee and reading this book has been a balm on a weary soul.  I am doing better, but lately I have felt a battle going on inside.  I am sure it is me holding on to my sinful self while God is revealing more and teaching me more.  I think I was faced with how much “unbelief or lack of faith” I struggle with.  Oh God exists and will tell anyone I know, but what happens when you have a big decision to make and God shows you one way but you want to go another.  The old battle of wills.  Praise God he is patient with this “bruised reed.”

Here are some quotes that spoke to me in The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes:

” A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.”

“The bruised reed is a man that for the most part is in some misery, as those were that came to Christ for help, and by misery he is brought to see sin as the cause of it..”

“After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks.”

“Our hearts, like criminals, until they are beaten from all evasions, never cry for the mercy of the Judge.”

And my favorite: “It is better to go bruised to heaven than sound to hell.”

We are reeds not oaks, this allows us to see we live life by mercy not by our strength.  If you are going through a difficult time, this is a wonderful book to read and soak in.