Psalm 34:17-18
(NLT)
The
righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues
those whose spirits are crushed.
The
emphasis of Psalm 34 is the fact that the Lord is a Provider and a
Deliverer. In verse 4, it says “I sought
the Lord and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears”. Verse 7 says “The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear Him and rescues them.”
Verse 10 says, “….they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any
good thing.” And then verses 15 through
19 give such wonderful promises that bring hope and relieve anxiety to whoever
reads and believes these words:
The eyes of the Lord are toward the
righteous
And His ears are open to their cry
The face of the Lord is against
evildoers
To cut off the memory of them from
the earth.
The righteous cry and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their
troubles
The Lord is close to the
brokenhearted
And rescues those spirits are
crushed
Many of the afflictions of the
righteous
But the Lord delivers him out of
them all
I
would not think that there is any reader of these words who has not suffered a
broken heart, whose heart has not been torn apart by certain experiences in
your life. The possibilities are endless
at what causes a broken heart. Usually
hearts are broken because of actions of other people, although hearts can also
be broken through personal failures.
Short of major illness or death, there may be nothing in life worse than
an event that breaks your heart. Indeed,
as Scripture states, broken hearts are spirits that are crushed. Broken hearts and crushed spirits lead to
severe depression and loss of hope.
Broken hearts are so painful sometimes that recovery might never
occur. What has happened in your past that you
still cannot get over?
The old saying, “God comforts the afflicted and
afflicts the comfortable” might have been based on Job 36:15 that reads: “But those who suffer He delivers in their
suffering; He speaks to them in their affliction.” Very few people suffer as much
loss as Job suffered yet. His 10
children were killed in a storm that God allowed to happen. He lost most of his possessions. Then he himself was afflicted with painful
boils all over his body. You need to
read Job chapters 1 and 2 to gain the context for why God allowed all this to
happen.
When you are suffering, you must trust these
promises from Psalm 34:17-18 and Job 36:15.
God promises both to deliver you
and to speak to you in your suffering (misery, poverty) and affliction
(oppression, mistreatment). Always remember that the Lord made you, knows you,
and loves and cares for you (see also Psalm 55:33 and I Peter 5:7). He makes significance promises here that give
great hope and comfort to the brokenhearted and crushed in spirit. However, note the use of the words “the
righteous”, mentioned three times in Psalm 34:15-19. Righteous sounds too pious for most of us,
but it simply means “rightness”. Without
Christ in your life, it is impossible to be righteous or right with God, but
through Christ, you are given initial rightness (justification before God) and
for the rest of your life you keep developing your rightness in Christian
character and conduct.
The
Lord promises to heal the brokenhearted.
He will not prevent the causes of brokenheartedness from happening, but
He promises to hear your cries and to deliver you via hope and healing. Losing a loved one especially produces a
broken heart and a crushed spirit. May
these words bring significant comfort, strength, and hope to you. Might they also be used by you to bring
comfort strength and hope to others in your life who you know are brokenhearted
and crushed in spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment