Seventh Day of Christmas: Isaiah 42 (Part 2)
Smoldering Wicks
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Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
a smoldering wick he will not quench.
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I love candlelight services--except for one part. When we all blow our candles light at the end and all those wicks smolder. That STINKS. I actually go around pinching off the smoldering embers just to make them stop.
In 7th grade our chemistry teacher showed us how to rekindle a smoldering wick. He filled a test tube with oxygen and blew out a flame, then put the smoldering wick into the tube.
POP!
The flame was not just rekindled--it exploded back to life.
We all like to sing "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," but our lights are anything but constant. Any little frustration, any bit of bad news, any unusual snarl of traffic and our wicks start to smolder. If I was the Lord, I'd just pinch off that wick and move on to another.
But that's not how Jesus rolls.
He fans our smoldering ember back to life and breathes the oxygen of heaven upon us. Yes, he knows the slightest frustration, the gentlest crosswind, the least bit of unexpected traffic will blow out our little light again--causing it to smolder and sputter and spew. But he keeps on breathing us back to life.
It's New Year's Eve, and 2020 has--by any measure--been a helluva year. Take a moment just now. Pause and feel God's breath upon your shoulders. He isn't giving up and moving on to another. He's rekindling YOU to glorious light. In God's rarified air, you won't just glimmer to life. You'll BURST into flame.
Bring it on--let it shine!