He will not shout or break the weakest reed: Isaiah 42:1-3

He will not shout     or raise his voice in public.  He will not crush the weakest reed     or put out a flickering candle.     He will bring justice to all who have been wronged Isaiah 42

 

     This verse was like a sword to me one day, surely it sliced between bone and marrow. There was no escaping or making excuses for my behavior.      Let me explain…..            A pair of my favorite white pants went missing at the dry cleaners- and in it’s place- were a pair of worn out white pants that looked like they were from 1980- and they were the same size….hmmmm. My husband usually picks up the dry cleaning so he mentioned the situation a few times to the staff, but they insisted we had the right pants. I decided to go in, return the wrong pants and see if they could look for mine. The woman at the counter insisted that her tickets don’t lie and angrily told me that the worn out pants I had in my hand were mine. (oh and she was the same size as me- you know I’m thinking she took my pants- I know I’m crazy! Over a pair of pants)  So anyways, the conversation got heated as she yelled about how tickets don’t lie, but what really irked me was her! And her attitude…so I gave it back to her- and said: please, don’t insult me, I know my clothes. She just about jumped over the counter and growled “don’t insult me”, so long story short- I raised my voice and wasn’t nice  Later that day….       I went to my parents house for my mom’s birthday. I began washing dishes and called all the kids over to help dry the dishes- it was grandma’s birthday. They all came over and began to help out except for my one niece, who at the time was 10 years old. She watched as we all worked away and replied to me nonchalantly, “Oh sorry, I have too much to do, I can’t help you”.  I replied; “Really? You can’t dry 5 dishes for  your grandmother?”.  She, either ignoring me or blind to the smoking fumes coming off my head, said calmly; “Yea (pause and stare) sorry, I can’t, I just have too much to do”. She turned and sat on the couch in front of us as we busily worked away cleaning up the kitchen.  Ms. “too busy”  sat and watched us as she tapped her pencil on her chin the entire time- pretending to be Aristotle deep in thought. I was livid! I was grumbling my thoughts aloud to my helpers- well, I blew up- told her how rude and disrespectful she was and that I knew Exactly! What she was up to……….. Oh whatever- like you’re a saint- I began to pray:     The day was coming to an end and super sister Christian me went to my prayer place. I began to pray, but something wasn’t right. “Lord, where are you? I feel like you are so far away.” There was silence. I didn’t feel that close presence I usually feel when I pray. “Lord, where are you? Why aren’t you listening?” I asked again. I sat in silence, wondering why I felt like something wasn’t right. Suddenly, I heard within my heart: “look what you did today” Uhmmmm, I thought, ooooookay….yeaaaahhhh- okay Lord, the dry cleaning lady..and I heard again: “and your niece” Ouch! I didn’t like that! So I told the Lord; “But God- I was right and they were wrong” and I heard the Lord tell me: “It doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong”  I replied “but I’m right, I’m right, I’m right” and the Lord responded to me again; “what matters is that you hurt them”. Waaaaaa! That did not feel good! In fact, I didn’t like it. I ran away, I didn’t want to admit my fault    I said to myself; “I  think I’ll pray later and just read my bible for now.”   I sat down and opened up my bible to wherever, hoping to get a super feel good verse- I opened up to Isaiah 42:3

He will not shout or raise His voice (what! I did this today, okay, calm down -it’s just a weird coincidence that I opened here)

He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle (oh no! I suddenly realized I had hurt someone who was already hurting! The parents of my young niece had just separated and she was far from her father and hurting deeply.)

He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. (oh great! Are you serious? I have to fix this mess I made? I have to say I’m sorry? I didn’t like this)

I ran away again        I decided this was just a weird coincidence. I decided to flip to the New Testament to find a feel good parable to ponder or some other good words for the day. I flipped over to the New Testament and guess what I landed on? Matthew 12:19, I’m thinking – this is going to be good- and I read………

He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public (Whaaaat! For real? Are you kidding me?)

He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle (great!, just great! I can’t run away from this. I need to face this if I want to get right with the Lord)

He will cause justice to be victorious.

   No more running away, I had to acknowledge what I had done  I took my humbled self back to my prayer time and told the Lord that was not real happy about this or what I did , but I will be obedient and apologized. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me : “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” I thought to myself: Please tell me I heard that wrong….. that had to be in my brain, so I began to pray again and heard it again… “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift     So I had to humble my obnoxious self and say I was sorry to the people!!!!!!! Now for sure I’m an alien – not of this world- but that’s my story. While I’m embarrassing myself, Ill share another verse that would smack me in the face for about 10 years in a row until I finally learned to behave. It was Psalm 52:1-3

Why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior?     Don’t you realize God’s justice continues forever? (Uhhmmmm, yes, I did just boast about my obnoxious self)

^….Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; (oh dear, God is watching me again. Im in big trouble! Big trouble!)

………. You love evil more than good (oh no! I do! This is not good!)

 Thank God!  The Lord changes me day by day and I’m not who I used to be- “ Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”  Sometimes I wonder if rudeness is contagious like the yeast of the Pharisees – wickedness spreads like wildfire. It’s so easy to fall off track in this world full of sin and wickedness. I’ve heard people say S.Florida has the rudest city in the US- and certainly I’ve run into a few this week. I guess at times, I put up a barrier to tolerate some and in doing so, I can become rude and hurtful too. “anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

“When you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.

He will not shout     or raise his voice in public.  He will not crush the weakest reed     or put out a flickering candle.     He will bring justice to all who have been wronged Isaiah 42, Matthew 12

Search me, O God, and know my heart;     test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you,     and lead me along the path of everlasting life

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