Pilgrim Days

The Bruised Reed (TBR) has been on my “to read” list for many years and I’m glad to have finally read it. I have profited greatly by doing so. With that said, I know there is so much I missed along the way, and much I failed to convey in my chapter summaries. But like any good book, I'm sure a reread would open new vistas of understanding. Perhaps I will do that someday. But for now, here are a few of my highlights from the final two chapters. One recurring theme that I found particularly encouraging in TBR was a long view of Christian growth and sanctification. Sibbes repeatedly reminds us of small beginnings and growth over time. See a flame in a spark, a tree in a seed. See great things in little beginnings. Look not so much to the beginning as to the perfection, and so we shall be, in some degree, joyful in ourselves, and thankful to Christ.[i] Another thing I appreciate about Sibbes is that, although he recognizes our frailty, sin, and weakness, there is no coddling of sin. He...

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 (NKJV) — Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 13:4 (NKJV) — For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. This week as I read chapters thirteen and fourteen of The Bruised Reed , there were three themes that caught my attention. The first is the ongoing battle in the believer’s life. Sibbes reminds us that growth and sanctification is a slow process. He also reminds us there will be suffering along the way, but Christ has ordained all...

Psalm 119:32–36, 45 (NKJV) — I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart . Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding , and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart . Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness… And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts. There was a sweet providential topic running through my devotions this week - the empowering and transforming work of God's Spirit in the believer's heart. That was the major theme in chapters eleven and twelve of The Bruised Reed as well as my Scripture reading.  As believers, we are being conformed to the image of Christ. Our affections, our will, what we love, and what we hate are being transformed. Or, to use the language of the Psalmist, our hearts are being enlarged to understand, love, and delight in the thin...

This week, in chapters nine and ten, Sibbes continues to encourage us to gaze at the tender mercies of Christ. As we see the best affections of mere men, be they father, husband, or brother, let us remember that these are but dim reflections of Christ’s benevolence toward us. We are the body of Christ, surely he will not mistreat His own. If the sweetness of all flowers were in one, how sweet must that flower be? In Christ all perfections of mercy and love meet. How great then must that mercy be that lodges in so gracious a heart? Whatever tenderness is scattered in husband, father, brother, head, all is but a beam from him; it is in him in the most eminent manner. We are weak, but we are his; we are deformed, but yet carry his image upon us. A father looks not so much at the blemishes of his child as at his own nature in him; so Christ finds matter of love from that which is his own in us. He sees his own nature in us: we are diseased, but yet his members. Who ever neglected his own m...

Psalm 46:1 (ESV) — 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Once again, I offer the following quote without comment. It is from chapter eight of The Bruised Reed . OVERCOMING DISCOURAGEMENTS Suffering brings discouragements, because of our impatience. `Alas!', we lament, `I shall never get through such a trial.' But if God brings us into the trial he will be with us in the trial, and at length bring us out, more refined. We shall lose nothing but dross (Zech. 13:9). From our own strength we cannot bear the least trouble, but by the Spirit's assistance we can bear the greatest. The Spirit will add his shoulders to help us to bear our infirmities. The Lord will give his hand to heave us up (Psa. 37:24). 'Ye have heard of the patience of job,' says James (James 5:11). We have heard of his impatience too, but it pleased God mercifully to overlook that. It yields us comfort also in desolate conditions, such as contagious sicknesses and the like,...

Philippians 3:12–14 (NKJV) — Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:12b–13 (NKJV) — work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. In chapter seven of The Bruised Reed Sibbes encourages us to persist in duty even though our works are mixed with “good” and “ill”. By that Sibbes is referring to the indwelling sin that taints even the good we do. He reminds us that Christ sees the good and will abolish the ill in due time, so carry on. He reminds us to pray even though our prayers are feeble, because the Spirit helps us in our infirmitie...

Once again, offered without comment, a few of my favorate quotes from chapter six of The Bruised Reed : We must neither trust to false evidence, nor deny true; for so we should dishonor the work of God's Spirit in us, and lose the help of that evidence which would cherish our love to Christ, and arm us against Satan's discouragements. Some are as faulty in this way as if they had been hired by Satan, the `accuser of the brethren' (Rev. 12:10), to plead for him in accusing themselves.[1] We must remember that grace sometimes is so little as to be indiscernible to us. The Spirit sometimes has secret operations in us which we know not for the present, but Christ knows.[2] …fire, as much as it can, sets everything on fire. So grace labors to produce a gracious impression in others, and make as many good as it can. Grace also makes a gracious use even of natural and civil things, and spiritualizes them. What another man does only in a civil way a gracious man will do holily. Whe...

Was chapter five of The Bruised Reed  a difficult read (no pun intended)? Don’t feel bad. So far, I found this chapter the most challenging to comprehend. The modern English edition was very helpful this week. Having said that, some of the quotes I furnish here will be from the modernized version. In previous chapters Sibbes examined how tenderly Christ shepherds us. In Chapter five, he considers how pastors should treat those they shepherd and how we should treat each other in light of who Christ is and how He deals with us. Christ came down from heaven and emptied himself of majesty in tender love to souls. Shall we not come down from our high conceits to do any poor soul good? Shall man be proud after God has been humble?[1] Christ is the ultimate example of humility (Phil. 2:5-8). He came from the highest heaven to dwell on earth among fallen men. Even more, He bore our sin and shame. Indeed, should we be proud after God has been humble? Sibbes also reminds us that, “Conscience...

I am pressed for time today so I offer without comment some of my favorite quotes from Chapter four of The Bruised Reed . THE LEAST SPARK OF GRACE IS PRECIOUS… He quenched not that little light in Peter, which was smothered: Peter denied him, but he denied not Peter (Luke 22:61) … In the seven churches (Rev. 2 and 3), we see that Christ acknowledges and cherishes anything that was good in them…[1] When blindness and boldness, ignorance and arrogance, weakness and willfulness, meet together in men, it renders them odious to God, burdensome in society, dangerous in their counsels, disturbers of better purposes, intractable and incapable of better direction, miserable in the issue. Where Christ shows his gracious power in weakness, he does it by letting men understand themselves so far as to breed humility, and magnify God's love to such as they are.[2] _____________________ [1] The Bruised Reed (p. 22). Kindle Edition. [2] The Bruised Reed (pp. 24-25). Kindle Edition.

Greetings all, I hope you are having a blessed week. We are currently reading chapters three and four of The Bruised Reed.  Once again, I would like to share a couple of quotes (from chapter three). Things of greatest perfection are longest in coming to their growth. Man, the most perfect creature, comes to perfection by little and little; worthless things, as mushrooms and the like, like Jonah's gourd, soon spring up, and soon vanish. A new creature is the most excellent creature in all the world, therefore it grows up by degrees. We see in nature that a mighty oak rises from an acorn.[1]   Let us not therefore be discouraged at the small beginnings of grace, but look on ourselves as elected to be `holy and without blame' (Eph. 1:4). Let us look on our imperfect beginning only to enforce further striving to perfection, and to keep us in a low opinion of ourselves. Otherwise, in case of discouragement, we must consider ourselves as Christ does, who looks on us as those he inte...

Greetings all, For chapter two, I just wanted to share a couple of impactful quotes that have encouraged me this week. I could easily include more, but I will limit myself to these:  Are you bruised? Be of good comfort, he calls you. 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 may but touch his garment' (Matt. 9:21). We shall be healed and have a gracious answer. Go boldly to God in our flesh; he is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone for this reason, that we might go boldly to him. 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. Well might the angel proclaim from heaven, `Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy' (Luke 2:10). Well might the apostle stir us up to `rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice' (Phil. 4:4).[1] If Christ be so merciful as not to break me, I will not bre...

There is no more shocking truth about believers than that God has loved them even as He has loved His own Son.[1] – The Moody Bible Commentary This week we are reading chapters one and two of The Bruised Reed. In Chapter one there is a curious phrase that was unfamiliar to me:  For his love rests in a whole Christ, in Christ mystical , as well as Christ natural, because he loves him and us with one love.[2]   What is meant by "Christ mystical"? In our day and age, it sounds kind New Agey. If you Google Christ mystical (and Googled it I did) you will find a long list of aberrant teachings about “Christian mysticism”. You will also find that the term was popularized by Pope Pius XII in 1943. However, after some searching, I came upon another passage from Sibbes that was more helpful.  Does God delight thus in Christ, in his person, or considered mystically? I answer; both. God loves and delights in Christ mystical, that is, in Christ and his members, in whole Christ. 'Thi...

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (NKJV) — Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Here are a few quotes I would like to share from chapter one of  The Bruised Reed :  God's children are bruised reeds before their conversion and oftentimes after. Before conversion all… are bruised reeds, yet in different degrees, as God sees fit. And as there are differences with regard to temperament, gifts and manner of life, so there are in God's intention to use men in the time to come; for usually he empties such of themselves, and makes them nothing, before he will use them in any great services.[1] After conversion we nee...

Hello everyone, I would like to highlight one portion of Sibbes’ introduction, To the Christian Reader , that gives me much comfort and food for thought. (By the way, I don't think Puritans believed in paragraphs 😉): The more glory to God, and the more comfort to a Christian soul, arising from the belief and application of these things , the more the enemy of God's glory and man's comfort labours to breed misconceptions of them, that if he cannot keep men from heaven, and bring them into that cursed condition he is in himself, yet he may trouble them in their passage. Some, and none of the worst, Satan prevails with so far as to neglect the means, upon fear they should, being so sinful, dishonour God and increase their sins; and so they lie smothering under this temptation, as it were bound hand and foot by Satan, not daring to go to Christ, and yet are secretly upheld by a spirit of faith, showing itself in hidden sighs and groans unto God. These are abused by false...

Matthew 12:18–21 (NKJV) — “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench , Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust.”    He came not to gather the strong for a revolution, but to show mercy to the weak.  – John MacArthur   Ancient Israel was never a regional “superpower”. They never had the military might of nations such as Assyria, Babylon, or Persia. During the time of Christ, they were essentially an occupied nation under the thumb of Rome. Nevertheless, Israel certainly had a golden age under Kings David and Solomon. King David was a great warrior who secured peace for Israel, and Solomon was a man of great wisdom who secured prosperity for the nation. But with that gol...

  We’re off to the races! Today is the first day of our nine-week journey through The Bruised Reed . You can use this blog to post your thoughts, insights, and quotes as we read through the book and Scripture passages. You can also share videos and articles you have benefited from along the way. The posts can be as long or short as you like.   If you have not received your invitation to post, please send me an email through the Cornerstone portal. Lastly, you can respond to posts in the comment section below. You can also respond via “Reactions” at the bottom of each post. The options are Amen , Like , and TFS! (Thanks for Sharing!).

When the beauty of Christ is unfolded, it draws the wounded, hungry soul unto him. The preaching of the word doth that that shows the sweet love of God in Jesus Christ. – Richard Sibbes Richard Sibbes (1577 - 1635) was a Puritan lecturer, theologian, and pastor. Although a prolific writer (as were many Puritans) his best known work is The Bruised Reed.  Highly regarded for his pastoral heart and gracious manner, Sibbes became known as “the heavenly Doctor”. Among those who have been refreshed and profoundly moved by Sibbes’ writings include Richard Baxter, C. H. Spurgeon, and Martin Lloyd Jones. J. I. Packer wrote, “Sibbes concentrated on exploring the love, power and patience of Christ, and the riches of the promises of God. He was a pioneer in working out the devotional application of the doctrine of God’s covenant of grace.” * In terms of pages, The Bruised Reed is actually a rather short book. But in my limited experience reading the Puritans, the truth being communicated i...