The Sweet Dropper

“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.” — Matthew 12:20 (KJV)

Richard Sibbes was born in 1577 in a village called Tostock, in Suffolk, England. His father was a wheelwright, a man who made and mended wooden wheels for carts, and he is said to have wanted Richard to go into the family business. But the boy loved books. He went from the grammar school at Bury St Edmunds to St John’s College, Cambridge.

Around 1603, while he was at Cambridge, Sibbes was converted through the plain, honest preaching of a man called Paul Baynes. For the rest of his life Sibbes called Baynes his father in the gospel.

Sibbes became a preacher himself, first in Cambridge and then in London, where he preached to the lawyers of Gray’s Inn. Later he became the head of a Cambridge college. But what people remembered most about him was not his job titles. It was his gentleness.

In those days a lot of preaching was very hard on people’s consciences. Preachers piled up warnings and rules, and many listeners went home feeling crushed and unsure whether God could ever accept them. Sibbes noticed those people, the doubting, the downcast, the ones barely holding on, and he went looking for them. People called him “the sweet dropper”, because his words fell on hurting people like gentle rain.

His most famous book is called The Bruised Reed. It is based on one verse, which appears first in Isaiah and then in Matthew’s Gospel about Jesus: “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.”

A reed is a thin, hollow plant that grows by rivers. It isn’t strong to begin with, and a bruised one is nearly snapped. Smoking flax is the wick of an old oil lamp that is almost out, giving off more smoke than light. Sibbes says these are pictures of us: “not trees, but reeds; and not whole, but bruised reeds.”

The promise is that Jesus does not snap weak people in two or snuff out struggling faith. He handles it gently and keeps it going until it is strong.

Sibbes’s book changed lives. Through his preaching a man named John Cotton was converted. Years later, a travelling pedlar sold a copy of The Bruised Reed at a family’s door, and through it the young Richard Baxter came to know the love of God. Baxter grew up to be one of the greatest pastors in England.

If you have ever felt like a weak Christian, or not much of a Christian at all, this book is for you.

One thing to do this week: read Matthew 12:15–21 this week. Write down the words “bruised reed” and “smoking flax” and, next to each, one way you feel like that right now. Then pray: “Jesus, you promised not to break me. Please take care of me.”