Isaiah 42: Broken Things


He won’t break off a bent reed
or put out a dying flame,
but he will make sure
that justice is done.
-Isaiah 42:3 (CEV)

I’m always amazed when I read Isaiah’s prophesies about Jesus Christ. He lived hundreds of years before Jesus, yet he gave supernaturally accurate descriptions of who the Messiah would be.

Here Isaiah presents Jesus as healer. A bent reed, like any other plant stem, is generally useless and beyond repair. It is much easier to simply break it and let another healthy one grow in its place. A smoldering matchstick is equally useless—better to get a new one and start all over. Jesus, however, would never break such a reed or put out a dying flame—He would be the One who could repair broken things.

Read the Gospels and you will see the activity of Jesus the healer. He encountered people with broken bodies, broken spirits, broken hearts, and broken lives. None of them were worthless; none of them were disposable. None were beyond His ability to repair and heal.

I’ve met a lot of people who have experienced some type of brokenness in their lives. Perhaps you think that all you have is broken. Here’s the good news—Jesus can heal broken things!

One of my favorite songs is actually entitled “Broken Things.” The writer (Julie Miller) experienced some of the things I’ve been talking about. Here are some of the lyrics:

You can have my heart
Though it isn’t new
It’s been used and broken
And only comes in blue
It’s been down a long road
And it got dirty on the way
If I give it to you will you make it clean
And wash the shame away
(chorus)
You can have my heart
If you don’t mind broken things
You can have my life if you don’t mind these tears
Well I heard that you make old things new
So I give these pieces all to you
If you want it you can have my heart

Are you broken? Give your life to the true Healer, Jesus Christ.

Two Sides to the Story


The one who states his case first seems right,
until the other comes and examines him.
-Proverbs 18:17 (English Standard Version)

One of my favorite channels in the States is Court TV. I usually end up trying to follow some type of high profile murder case when I’m home.

It’s really fascinating to watch the opening arguments of a murder trial. The prosecution goes first, presenting their evidence against the accused. Once they are finished, it seems 100% certain that the defendant is guilty. The defending lawyers, however, have a way of changing that. The defense often challenges all of the prosecutor’s evidence piece by piece. Suddenly you are not so sure if the man on trial is guilty.

Things haven’t changed that much since Proverbs was written. Proverbs are often just simple, wise observations that we can apply to our life.

Court TV is not the only place that we can see Proverbs 18:17 at work. I’ve seen this principle in many different types of personal conflicts. How many of us have sided with someone, only to learn that the other person had an equally valid point? How many times have we failed to see the other person’s point of view?

Of course there are times when one person/side is clearly wrong. There are times when someone has clearly sinned and deserves most or all of the blame. My experience, however, is that this is rare. Normally when there is a conflict, both sides share in the blame.

It is incredibly difficult to be objective and look at something without bias. Although it is difficult, we must try to do this in order to make wise decisions. If there is a conflict, try to hear both sides of the story. Don’t be too quick to fight for someone’s cause—you may later realize that there’s more to the story. Try to see the other side.