Thursday, January 24, 2008

Sibbes, The Bruised Reed

After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks...The heroic deeds of those great worthies do not comfort the church so much as their falls and bruises do.

pg. 5, Sibbes
Men, for the most part, are not lost enough in their own feeling for a Saviour. A holy despair in ourselves is the ground of true hope. In God the fatherless find mercy (Hos. 14:3); if men were more fatherless, they should feel more God's fatherly affection from heaven, for the God who dwells in the highest heavens dwells likewise in the lowest soul (Isa. 57:15).

pg. 14, Sibbes

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you read this online or purchase it? I heard Dever discussing the book. Is it a good read?

Matthew LaPine said...

Mark Vance is reading it. He bought it. From what I skimmed through this morning I really enjoyed it.

We can learn from Sibbes and others like him that we give too much comfort to those who make a profession of faith but do not evidence humble reliance on God and deep acknowledgement of inward sin. And we give to little comfort to those who in humility are daily broken by their sinful hearts and look to God for hope.