The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
When things go wrong, when you end up with a broken heart and a crushed spirit, it is all to easy to think that you have been abandoned. As you hurt you look inward, mentally curling up to protect yourself. Your world contracts and your eyes drop. No one seems to be there, just you. You alone.
As you sit in that isolation David is keen to whisper to you that “the LORD is near”. It is often as you hit rock bottom that you can be more aware of God’s presence. As your props and distractions are kicked away, you discover the God who is there. Who is near. To be brokenhearted is not to be abandoned by God. To have a spirit that is crushed is to be a person whom the Lord saves.
It is a fact of our walk through this earth that suffering afflicts the believer. To be a Christian is not to be one who simply floats off to heaven on a cloud of fluffy loveliness. You only have to look at the life of Paul, or any of the apostles, to know that. The Christian does not escape being broken hearted, but neither does he or she escape the loving presence of God.
If you are reading this, feeling crushed by ongoing restriction and loneliness then please do be assured of this: the LORD is near.
