- photo by Susan PageHave you ever wanted to grab a bruised apple, pear, or banana for your mid-day snack? Likely not. A bruised piece of fruit is not particularly appetizing.
How do you react when you see intense bruising on someone’s body? If the injury is the consequence of abuse, then the alarm bells sound and proper care and aid should be given in removing the person from harm's way. Often though, regular bruising is usually the result of an accident or sometimes sheer clumsiness.
A bruise is the product of a rupturing of small blood vessels under the skin causing discolouration. Trust me, I know. After suffering from a pulmonary embolism several years ago, I started on blood thinners and my body bruised quite easily. Black, blue, purple, and green marked my skin, fortunately, the bruises were not always seen.
Whether it’s bruised fruit, a bruised body or a bruised heart, there is a beautiful reference in Scripture that refers to our Saviour’s care for those who have suffered.
“… a bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench” (Isaiah 42:3).
Jesus, our gentle Shepherd is someone we can trust with our most tender hurts.
In this broken and fallen world, many of us have both given and received wounds that have left us, or others bent, battered, and bruised. There is no wounding that our Saviour cannot heal. There is no pain so deep He does not understand. After all, He was wounded for our transgressions, by His stripes we are healed.
I imagine our Lord’s body was covered with many bruises after the horrific beating He suffered before being nailed to the cross. He also suffered from the emotional pain of betrayal by those He loves.
Often physical bruises are much easier to deal with than emotional ones. If asked, I am certain that we could all give a personal example. Like Jesus, many of us have dealt with betrayal, maybe by a spouse, a family member, or a trusted friend. These sensitive injuries often take longer to heal than a physical wound.
When we are in pain, confused, weak and battered and our light is just barely flickering we can trust Jesus to take our burden and fan the flame. The prophecy from Isaiah was referenced again in Matthew 12 and these words fill us with great optimism when our spirits are crushed “until He (Jesus) brings justice to victory, and in His name the Gentiles will hope.”
Wrongs will be righted; our hope is in Him and the promise of all things being made new again. This wonderful news of wholeness and healing was prophesied from the very beginning of time and first referenced in Genesis, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). As Jesus bore our sin, shame, and brokenness in His body on the cross, He crushed the enemy and purchased our salvation.
There is a poem by an anonymous writer that suggests that God will put us through times of bruising to refine and shape us into people who will reflect His glory. The end of the poem reads, “Yet God bends but never breaks when man’s good He undertakes; How He uses whom He chooses, and with mighty power infuses him, with every act induced him to try His splendour out, God knows what He’s about.”
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter4:12-14).
A bruised reed He will not break!
Susan Page is the daughter of the King, His beloved child, wonderfully forgiven and blessed! Susan longs to age gracefully, becoming more like Jesus as she seeks the hidden treasures revealed to her through Scripture, literature, the arts, humankind, and nature.