The Bruised Reed
By: Richard Sibbes
A Review by ADP
“I shall never cease to be grateful to… Richard Sibbes who was balm to my soul at a period in my life when I was overworked and badly overtired, and therefore subject in an unusual manner to the onslaughts if the devil… I found at that time that Richard Sibbes, who was known in London in the early seventeenth century as ‘The Heavenly doctor Sibbes’ was an unfailing remedy… The Bruised Reed… quietened, soothed, comforted, encouraged and healed me.” – Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
This little Puritan paperback has been titled after a passage in Isaiah that Sibbes has written upon. Isaiah 42: 3, ‘a bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.’
This book The Bruised Reed is for the soul. It is for any man or woman that has ever felt the grips of sin, felt the shame of ones standing before Christ, or felt they were losing the battle against Satan. There are times when believers fall short, feel inadequate, lonely, depressed, even question the truths of Scripture. This little book is a good reminder of the grace of Christ and the work He has done on the cross for our benefit. It is also a good reminder of the mercy of Christ and His willingness to call us brothers and sisters. I believe that this is a fine book for those of us who are aspiring to be in the ministry. There may be times when we are downtrodden or lazy or whatever may keep us from Christ during our Christian ministry that we have no one close by to talk with or question about anything, this book I believe will be a good aid for us throughout or pilgrimage.
Before I read this book my brother-in-law recommended that I take some time to reflect on the grace and mercy of Christ, this is something that I recommend you doing as well before you read this book. Naturally, as I began to do so, the first thing that I thought about was the “big” things, such as forgiveness, salvation, atonement, justification and all of the other big words (doctrines) that we so lovingly embrace. As time went on I remember then a shift in my thinking, (which sometimes I think we all can forget about) but it was a switch to the “small” things. Breath, health, children’s health, wife, job, house, food, etc. This is one of the things I think that Sibbes tries to address in his book, although not in great depth, but none-the-less something for us to contemplate. Too often we forget the everyday graces and mercies that Christ provides for us that we think of him as being far away and not as the Christ of Scripture. This is the essence of Sibbes book, that as a believer, Christ will not let us go, He will not fail us, He will not break us, and He will not leave us to ourselves in our time of need. Christ is the beginning and end of our faith, He is our life, our hope, or joy, and may God help us to always see Him as our Prophet, Priest, and King!
For the rest of the review I would like to try and give you some of what I felt to be the more helpful things that I got from The Bruised Reed.
Who are the “bruised reeds”?
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, for, whatever pretences sin makes, they come to an end when they are bruised and broken. He is sensible of sin and misery, even unto bruising; and, seeing no help in himself, is carried with restless desire to have supply from another, with some hope, which a little raises him out of himself to Christ, though he dare not claim any present interest of mercy. This spark of hope being opposed by doubts and fears rising from corruption makes him as smoking flax; so that both these together, a bruised reed and a smoking flax, make up the state of a poor distressed man. This is such an one as our Saviour Christ terms ‘poor in spirit’ (Matt. 5:3), who sees his wants, and also sees himself indebted to divine justice. He has no means of supply from himself or the creature, and thereupon mourns, and, upon some hope of mercy from the promise and examples of those that have obtained mercy, is stirred up to hunger and thirst after it.—Sibbes p. 3-4
So now we at least have a definition of a bruised reed according to Sibbes. But what does this tell us about us? When we truly come to the end of ourselves, after being bombarded by the weight of our sin and shame of our offensiveness towards God, there is Christ, willing and wanting to lavish His great love upon us so that our guilt will be placed on Him and that we can agree with the hymn writer:
“My sin—O the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
--Horatio Spafford
The point of what Sibbes is saying is that as a Christian, Christ will never break those reeds that are bruised but in the words of Christ, “come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”—Matthew 11:28-30. And so we find our comfort in Christ.
From there Sibbes gives us some great application to our lives in pursuit of Christ. I want to paraphrase a lengthy passage from chapter two titled, “Christ will not break the bruised reed.”
He came to die as a priest for his enemies… He shed tears for those that shed his blood, and now makes intercession in heaven for weak Christians, standing between them and God’s anger… What mercy may we not expect from so gracious a Mediator who took our nature upon him that he might be gracious?... He died that he might heal our souls with a plaster of his own blood, and by that death save us, which we were the procurers of ourselves, by our own sins…What should we learn from this, but to come boldly to the throne of grace in all our grievances?... Conceal not your wounds, open all before him and take not Satan’s counsel. Go to Christ, although trembling, as the poor woman who said, if I but touch his garment… Never fear to go to God, since we have such a Mediator with him, who is not only our friend but our brother and husband… His presence makes any condition comfortable. p. 8-9
What more is there to say about the Christ that we have, the very Christ that we freely worship daily? And yet we continue to believe a lie and think that we cannot go to Him in our time of need. What I gained from this abbreviated passage was for a greater need of a Christ centered prayer life, one that is always willing to pour out my whole heart to my Savior, because, what can I hide from Him? I think that there are times when we would rather wallow in self pity than go to our living Christ for aid and comfort. What Sibbes is saying is that because our Savior is so tender and so loving, why don’t we want to go the Him?
Another great passage from chapter two gives us eight different things to consider about bruised reeds. I have found these eight things to be standards by which I want to live by. Sibbes starts with the question, “But how shall we know whether we are such as may expect mercy?” p. 10 He answers with these eight shortened points:
(1) By the bruised here is not meant those that are brought low only by crosses, but such as, by them, are brought to see their sin, which bruises most of all. When conscience is under guilt of sin, then every judgment brings a report of God’s anger to the soul, and all lesser troubles run into this great trouble of conscience for sin… he that is thus bruised will be content with nothing but with mercy from him who has bruised him. The Lord who has bruised me deservedly for my sins must bind up my heart again. (2) Again, a man truly bruised judges sin the greatest evil, and the favor of God the greatest good. (3) He would rather hear of mercy than of a kingdom. (4) He has poor opinions of himself, and thinks that he is not worth the earth he treads on. (5) Towards others he is not censorious, as being taken up at home, but is full of sympathy and compassion to those who are under God’s hand. (6) He thinks that those who walk in the comforts of God’s Spirit are the happiest men in the world. (7) He trembles at the Word of God, and honors the very feet of those blessed instruments that bring peace unto him. (8) He is more taken up with the inward exercises of a broken heart than with formality, and is yet careful to use all sanctified means to convey comfort. p. 10-11
I can remember reading through this book the first time and catching a glimpse of many good things to gain from Richard Sibbes, but as I began reading through the book again and making notes for this paper I came to realize just what a jewel this book is. Sibbes has given us a wealth of knowledge here to consider the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. These previous eight things he mentioned, I think, should be at the forefront of our hearts and our lives as we consider the very Christ we claim to profess and worship. Are we truly broken over our sin and our condition before the Lord of the universe? Do we judge sin as the “greatest evil, and the favor of God the greatest good”? Are we the happiest men in the world when we walk in “the comforts of God’s Spirit”? Sometimes I fear that I am not, and yet I still have Christ. Christ should be our motivation, not self. If we are aspiring to the ministry for self gain than we are an abomination to God. If we don’t feel the effects of this bruising, than what guarantee do we have that we are Christ’s? Our lives and our ministries should be all for the glory of God, to bring Him honor and praise because He is worthy!
So my next thought would be, do we have any hope? Yes! Praise be to God that we have hope! Hope in Christ Jesus! He is the only hope that we have. There are many good applicable things throughout all of Sibbes’ book, but for the sake of the review I wanted to start with who are the bruised and where do we stand in comparison to what Sibbes has to say, and then move to the victory we have in Christ and the “triumph of grace”. I move over now to chapter fifteen. This is the hope that we have in Christ.
Those that are under Christ’s government have the spirit of revelation, whereby they see and feel a divine power sweetly and strongly enabling them to preserve faith when they feel the contrary, and hope in a state which is hopeless, and love to God under signs of displeasure, and heavenly-mindedness in the midst of worldly affairs and allurements which draw a contrary way. They feel a power preserving patience, nay joy, in the midst of causes of mourning, inward peace in the midst of assaults. p. 116
What greater joy do we have than joy in Christ? To be gripped by Christ and no other is more than silver and gold. I believe that is what Sibbes is getting at in his book. Live as unto Christ, hide nothing from Christ, lay your hearts before Christ, because the Lamb that was slain deserves the reward of His suffering! To often Christian want to look within to find answers, they want to go to others for help, when in reality we MUST go to Christ. He is the One that will not break the bruised reed, he will not extinguish the smoking flax. “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.” Isa. 40:11.
I recommend this book to anyone who has struggled with sin, to anyone who has set aside Christ and looked at self for help. I recommend this book to anyone who wants their relationship with Christ to grow into fruitfulness. I recommend this book to anyone who feels the weight of their sin upon them and feels they have nowhere to turn. That is all of us. May the Lord help us to turn from self and look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, to Him be glory forever and ever, amen!
By: Richard Sibbes
A Review by ADP
“I shall never cease to be grateful to… Richard Sibbes who was balm to my soul at a period in my life when I was overworked and badly overtired, and therefore subject in an unusual manner to the onslaughts if the devil… I found at that time that Richard Sibbes, who was known in London in the early seventeenth century as ‘The Heavenly doctor Sibbes’ was an unfailing remedy… The Bruised Reed… quietened, soothed, comforted, encouraged and healed me.” – Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
This little Puritan paperback has been titled after a passage in Isaiah that Sibbes has written upon. Isaiah 42: 3, ‘a bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.’
This book The Bruised Reed is for the soul. It is for any man or woman that has ever felt the grips of sin, felt the shame of ones standing before Christ, or felt they were losing the battle against Satan. There are times when believers fall short, feel inadequate, lonely, depressed, even question the truths of Scripture. This little book is a good reminder of the grace of Christ and the work He has done on the cross for our benefit. It is also a good reminder of the mercy of Christ and His willingness to call us brothers and sisters. I believe that this is a fine book for those of us who are aspiring to be in the ministry. There may be times when we are downtrodden or lazy or whatever may keep us from Christ during our Christian ministry that we have no one close by to talk with or question about anything, this book I believe will be a good aid for us throughout or pilgrimage.
Before I read this book my brother-in-law recommended that I take some time to reflect on the grace and mercy of Christ, this is something that I recommend you doing as well before you read this book. Naturally, as I began to do so, the first thing that I thought about was the “big” things, such as forgiveness, salvation, atonement, justification and all of the other big words (doctrines) that we so lovingly embrace. As time went on I remember then a shift in my thinking, (which sometimes I think we all can forget about) but it was a switch to the “small” things. Breath, health, children’s health, wife, job, house, food, etc. This is one of the things I think that Sibbes tries to address in his book, although not in great depth, but none-the-less something for us to contemplate. Too often we forget the everyday graces and mercies that Christ provides for us that we think of him as being far away and not as the Christ of Scripture. This is the essence of Sibbes book, that as a believer, Christ will not let us go, He will not fail us, He will not break us, and He will not leave us to ourselves in our time of need. Christ is the beginning and end of our faith, He is our life, our hope, or joy, and may God help us to always see Him as our Prophet, Priest, and King!
For the rest of the review I would like to try and give you some of what I felt to be the more helpful things that I got from The Bruised Reed.
Who are the “bruised reeds”?
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, for, whatever pretences sin makes, they come to an end when they are bruised and broken. He is sensible of sin and misery, even unto bruising; and, seeing no help in himself, is carried with restless desire to have supply from another, with some hope, which a little raises him out of himself to Christ, though he dare not claim any present interest of mercy. This spark of hope being opposed by doubts and fears rising from corruption makes him as smoking flax; so that both these together, a bruised reed and a smoking flax, make up the state of a poor distressed man. This is such an one as our Saviour Christ terms ‘poor in spirit’ (Matt. 5:3), who sees his wants, and also sees himself indebted to divine justice. He has no means of supply from himself or the creature, and thereupon mourns, and, upon some hope of mercy from the promise and examples of those that have obtained mercy, is stirred up to hunger and thirst after it.—Sibbes p. 3-4
So now we at least have a definition of a bruised reed according to Sibbes. But what does this tell us about us? When we truly come to the end of ourselves, after being bombarded by the weight of our sin and shame of our offensiveness towards God, there is Christ, willing and wanting to lavish His great love upon us so that our guilt will be placed on Him and that we can agree with the hymn writer:
“My sin—O the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
--Horatio Spafford
The point of what Sibbes is saying is that as a Christian, Christ will never break those reeds that are bruised but in the words of Christ, “come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”—Matthew 11:28-30. And so we find our comfort in Christ.
From there Sibbes gives us some great application to our lives in pursuit of Christ. I want to paraphrase a lengthy passage from chapter two titled, “Christ will not break the bruised reed.”
He came to die as a priest for his enemies… He shed tears for those that shed his blood, and now makes intercession in heaven for weak Christians, standing between them and God’s anger… What mercy may we not expect from so gracious a Mediator who took our nature upon him that he might be gracious?... He died that he might heal our souls with a plaster of his own blood, and by that death save us, which we were the procurers of ourselves, by our own sins…What should we learn from this, but to come boldly to the throne of grace in all our grievances?... Conceal not your wounds, open all before him and take not Satan’s counsel. Go to Christ, although trembling, as the poor woman who said, if I but touch his garment… Never fear to go to God, since we have such a Mediator with him, who is not only our friend but our brother and husband… His presence makes any condition comfortable. p. 8-9
What more is there to say about the Christ that we have, the very Christ that we freely worship daily? And yet we continue to believe a lie and think that we cannot go to Him in our time of need. What I gained from this abbreviated passage was for a greater need of a Christ centered prayer life, one that is always willing to pour out my whole heart to my Savior, because, what can I hide from Him? I think that there are times when we would rather wallow in self pity than go to our living Christ for aid and comfort. What Sibbes is saying is that because our Savior is so tender and so loving, why don’t we want to go the Him?
Another great passage from chapter two gives us eight different things to consider about bruised reeds. I have found these eight things to be standards by which I want to live by. Sibbes starts with the question, “But how shall we know whether we are such as may expect mercy?” p. 10 He answers with these eight shortened points:
(1) By the bruised here is not meant those that are brought low only by crosses, but such as, by them, are brought to see their sin, which bruises most of all. When conscience is under guilt of sin, then every judgment brings a report of God’s anger to the soul, and all lesser troubles run into this great trouble of conscience for sin… he that is thus bruised will be content with nothing but with mercy from him who has bruised him. The Lord who has bruised me deservedly for my sins must bind up my heart again. (2) Again, a man truly bruised judges sin the greatest evil, and the favor of God the greatest good. (3) He would rather hear of mercy than of a kingdom. (4) He has poor opinions of himself, and thinks that he is not worth the earth he treads on. (5) Towards others he is not censorious, as being taken up at home, but is full of sympathy and compassion to those who are under God’s hand. (6) He thinks that those who walk in the comforts of God’s Spirit are the happiest men in the world. (7) He trembles at the Word of God, and honors the very feet of those blessed instruments that bring peace unto him. (8) He is more taken up with the inward exercises of a broken heart than with formality, and is yet careful to use all sanctified means to convey comfort. p. 10-11
I can remember reading through this book the first time and catching a glimpse of many good things to gain from Richard Sibbes, but as I began reading through the book again and making notes for this paper I came to realize just what a jewel this book is. Sibbes has given us a wealth of knowledge here to consider the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. These previous eight things he mentioned, I think, should be at the forefront of our hearts and our lives as we consider the very Christ we claim to profess and worship. Are we truly broken over our sin and our condition before the Lord of the universe? Do we judge sin as the “greatest evil, and the favor of God the greatest good”? Are we the happiest men in the world when we walk in “the comforts of God’s Spirit”? Sometimes I fear that I am not, and yet I still have Christ. Christ should be our motivation, not self. If we are aspiring to the ministry for self gain than we are an abomination to God. If we don’t feel the effects of this bruising, than what guarantee do we have that we are Christ’s? Our lives and our ministries should be all for the glory of God, to bring Him honor and praise because He is worthy!
So my next thought would be, do we have any hope? Yes! Praise be to God that we have hope! Hope in Christ Jesus! He is the only hope that we have. There are many good applicable things throughout all of Sibbes’ book, but for the sake of the review I wanted to start with who are the bruised and where do we stand in comparison to what Sibbes has to say, and then move to the victory we have in Christ and the “triumph of grace”. I move over now to chapter fifteen. This is the hope that we have in Christ.
Those that are under Christ’s government have the spirit of revelation, whereby they see and feel a divine power sweetly and strongly enabling them to preserve faith when they feel the contrary, and hope in a state which is hopeless, and love to God under signs of displeasure, and heavenly-mindedness in the midst of worldly affairs and allurements which draw a contrary way. They feel a power preserving patience, nay joy, in the midst of causes of mourning, inward peace in the midst of assaults. p. 116
What greater joy do we have than joy in Christ? To be gripped by Christ and no other is more than silver and gold. I believe that is what Sibbes is getting at in his book. Live as unto Christ, hide nothing from Christ, lay your hearts before Christ, because the Lamb that was slain deserves the reward of His suffering! To often Christian want to look within to find answers, they want to go to others for help, when in reality we MUST go to Christ. He is the One that will not break the bruised reed, he will not extinguish the smoking flax. “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.” Isa. 40:11.
I recommend this book to anyone who has struggled with sin, to anyone who has set aside Christ and looked at self for help. I recommend this book to anyone who wants their relationship with Christ to grow into fruitfulness. I recommend this book to anyone who feels the weight of their sin upon them and feels they have nowhere to turn. That is all of us. May the Lord help us to turn from self and look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, to Him be glory forever and ever, amen!
