Are You Lost? Overwhelmed?
"A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench;" Isaiah 42:3 Have you been so broken down by circumstances in life that have brought you as low and empty as one can go? Are you a bruised reed? Has your light gone out to the point where your candle is merely smoking? The Lord is tender-hearted towards the suffering. He cares about their pain. And he protects them, so that the bruised will not break, and the smoking candle will not go out. To the suffering, the Father points to Messiah Jesus who came into this world with a Covenant offered to all who will receive him. In him, all our needs will be satisfied, and in him we will find healing. Therefore, if you do not know the Lord, consider the purpose for which God sent Jesus Christ into our world: vs 6-7: "I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house." The world is currently under the authority of Satan, the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) who obtained this authority by causing our first father Adam to rebel against God. But God so loved the world that he sent his Son to bring the suffering into HIS covenant, which is ruled by HIM, in whom the suffering find refuge, and those living in darkness come into the light of HIS kingdom. Consider the contrast: "The thief (Satan) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10 Satan is the thief. His first act upon humanity was to steal the authority that had been given to Adam who brought sin into the world. From that point on, every descendant of Adam is born into a world ruled by Satan. But Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of mankind. He offers salvation, healing, and deliverance to whoever will turn from the lies of Satan and believe in the Redeemer who has come to give life, and that more abundantly. If you have felt there is no hope for you, consider the Redeemer. He laid his life down FOR YOU, to receive on your behalf all the judgment due on your sins. If you will but dare to come into the Covenant he established for you, you will find in him the healing, the deliverance, and the help that only he can give. Pray with me: Father God, I am overwhelmed. The circumstances of my life have all but quenched the life out of me. I am exhausted with suffering. I have not been able to find help or relief anywhere. The promises of man have failed me. My counselors have failed me. My friends are tired of hearing of my suffering and they stay away from me. I've heard that you sent a Redeemer to redeem people like me. I would certainly like to know him. Lord Jesus, if you are willing to receive me into your covenant, I am ready to surrender all that I am and all that I have to you, trusting the promise you made that you offer life, and that life more abundantly. Please receive me, Lord Jesus. Let the blood you shed cover all my sins and let me start life anew in you. Show me the way to go, and what to do, and I will follow. Thank you for hearing me. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17