Hezekiah believed in God, but he was actually looking to the power of Egypt at the time. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, says that Egypt is a broken reed staff that has gone into hiding because they thought they had his back. In fact, this is not Egypts problem, its Judahs problem. Although I managed to escape from the bullying, I didnt get rid of the Egyptian attributes that were attached to me: I, the one who requested such a staff, am also a broken reed. Hezekiah trusted in God, but the Assyrians came in, stole his money, and he was about to be ruined. Its in the face of this situation that I begin to doubt that God will help. Even Egypt, with its visible history and traditions, is suspect, so how much more so the invisible God? The destructive power of sudden hardship shakes our faith. This is Satans ploy, to get us to lean on a broken reed staff in the face of hardship. What do we do when this happens? When doubt arises, we must still stand firm in our place of worship. The cure for doubt is faith, and the cure for doubt is faith. We cant do it alone, so we need to go to the community that God has called and bound us to, the church, and gather with the body and worship in the same way.
Second, when we are in despair, we should fall down and pray.
Rabshakeh speaks in a mocking voice, insulting and completely dismissive, and even mocks God, saying that he has come to destroy Jerusalem by Gods will.These words sounded even more serious to Hezekiah and the people of Judah because the prophet Isaiah had been warning them of this since the days of King Ahaz. This is Satans strategy, to get us to despair. Despair is a period, there is no more hope, but the problem is the object.If we only expect, love, and desire God, theres no problem, but because we expect, covet, and desire things that are not God, theres a problem. And so expectations, desires, and ambitions that leave God must inevitably end in despair. What we really need to realize and remember is that its not the condition Im in right now. God never intends to destroy us with events and trials of despair He never intends to destroy us, but then has compassion on us and changes His mind.What matters is that the God who has chosen me and is saving me is holding me in any circumstance, so I dont have to get down on my knees before the circumstances that cause me to despair, but I have to get down on my knees before the God who is calling me through those circumstances, and that is prayer.Through prayer, I need to turn away from what my heart thought was the right answer and take the Word as the right answer and align my life with the Word. May we be the ones who fall down and pray in the midst of events of despair.
Third, we need to share when wewould like to avoid.
This is Satans ploy, to get us to lean on a broken reed staff in the face of hardship. What do we do when this happens?When doubt arises, we must still stand firm in our place of worship.The cure for doubt is faith, and the cure for doubt is faith.We cant do it alone, so we need to go to the community that God has called and bound us to, the church, and gather with the body and worship in the same way.
So when something comes up that you dont want to face, that you want to avoid, dont run away from it, but come and share it with the body of believers sitting here on the castle, up in the chapel. One of the characteristics of reeds is that they live in clusters. If you pick them off one by one, theyre too thin and weak, but because theyre in clusters, they survive with tremendous vitality. Dont avoid them because you dont want to admit that youre a broken reed, but share them with the community of the ranch, and I trust that you will be set free like nothing else in the world.
As a community confession, lets talk about Lot. Lots life seems to epitomize the life of a bruised reed. He constantly chose the world, and Abraham constantly helped him. Lot chose Sodom, Lot chose a carnal wife, Lots sons-in-law took his words as a joke, and Lots daughters chose the way of the world and went to bed with their father because they were worried that there was no one to provide for them. So why did God put this Lot on Abraham?It was for Abrahams sake that God gave Abraham the test of Lot. It was a yoke for Abraham because it is difficult to form the first generation of faith if there is no one who makes it so hard for them.When I saw Abraham praying earnestly for his family and relatives, who had to give their lives to help him even if he took all their possessions and died, Lot was like a broken reed. In the end, he recognized me, a broken reed, and became manure for me, a broken reed, and saved me.
Our lives as bruised reeds are like this, we need to come forward and worship when we are in doubt, we need to fall down and pray when we are in despair, we need to share when we want to avoid, and no matter what, we need to rise up and hold the light, believing in the Lord who will not break our lives as bruised reeds.
