Psalm 34:18 (NASB)
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.Look around at people. Look deeply into their eyes. You just might discover people living in pain. Trying to cope with emotional burdens, unexpected circumstances, sorrows buried down deep, despair, and people faking it while trying to make it through another day.
Brokenhearted people live in our homes, work alongside us, and worship among us. Brokenhearted people are bruised, completely crushed, and shattered into shivers. Like a mirror that falls to the floor in many pieces, so are the hearts of those broken and shattered by the hardships of life. People in the pews live with the sharp pain of life without their deceased spouse. The pain never goes away. The battered bravely face each day in shame and fear of ever being found out. While their bodies are bruised, their psyche and spirts are completely crushed as well. They hide it well. They suffer in silence. The marginalized live their days alone, forgotten and neglected. The pain of nobody caring rips through them like a carving knife through a Thanksgiving Turkey.
There is hope for brokenhearted people. God is near. He is at hand, close, and readily available. It may not feel that way. There are times we have to look past the way we feel to spiritual truths that transcend our feelings. God is near to brokenhearted people. That is truth. It is a reality that God's people must remember in the most grievous situations. We must choose to believe and expect to receive help and hope from Him.
God can sweep up the shivers of our shattered hearts and masterfully put them back together. There may still be scars, but God heals and restores broken hearts. The pain can masquerade God's presence. We get tunnel vision about what we are going through that blind us to greater spiritual truths. God is near. He is close at hand to strengthen, comfort, help, and console. Even when we feel like He has abandoned and forsaken us.
He saves, or to put it another way, He delivers people who are crushed in spirit. People who are oppressed. Who live in constant affliction. People who are heavy laden. Souls that are sunk down under oppressive burdens they cannot seem to shake. Anguished people longing for relief. God rescues such people. He delivers and preserves them. It is time to lay our burdens down refusing to pick them up again. To leave them with the Master.
So many are deceived by their pain and oppression they become convinced they will never be whole. Never live free. Never have the broken shattered pieces put back together. Never live out from under the crushing weight. That may be what it seems like, but that is not the truth of what God says. His word is healing medicine to give hope. To restore faith. To rekindle the dream of living pain free days. Dare to dream banking on the fact that God is a promise keeper and not a promise breaker.
- Identify what has broken your heart?
- Do you believe God is close by you in your pain? Explain why or why not?
- Describe what God rescuing you would mean.
- List the things that oppress you. Pray Ps 55:22 in addition to the verse for today.
- What do you dare to dream today?
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