“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
Tonight the sky over Manchester will be full of fireworks.
Bonfire Night has its roots in a failed plot to blow up Parliament in 1605, and for more than four centuries people across Britain have lit fires and set off rockets on the fifth of November. The fireworks are bright, loud and beautiful. And then, within seconds, they are gone. All that is left is smoke drifting across a cold, dark sky.
Some of us know what that feels like on the inside. A hope that burst brightly and then faded. A prayer that seemed so sure, and an answer that never came. A plan, a relationship or a dream that lit up for a while and then left only smoke.
If that is where you are this morning, this verse is for you.
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34 has a fascinating heading: “Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.” The story is in 1 Samuel 21. David was running for his life from King Saul and fled to the Philistine city of Gath, of all places, the hometown of Goliath, whom David had killed. When he was recognised, he panicked and pretended to be mad, scratching on the doors and letting saliva run down his beard. (Abimelek seems to have been a royal title; 1 Samuel names the king as Achish.)
It is hardly a heroic moment. The anointed future king of Israel is alone, humiliated and terrified in enemy territory. And out of that experience comes a psalm that begins, “I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.”
Like Lamentations, which we read on the first of the month, Psalm 34 is an acrostic. Each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. David took his most shameful, frightening moment and shaped it, letter by letter, into worship.
Now look at the words of verse 18.
“Brokenhearted” in Hebrew is nishbere lev, literally “the broken of heart.” The verb shavar is used for smashing pottery or breaking bones. “Crushed in spirit” is dakke ruach, from a word meaning crushed to powder, pulverised. These are not words for mild disappointment. They describe people who feel shattered.
And to these people the promise is that the LORD is “close.” The Hebrew qarov means near, at hand, within reach. When your heart is broken, you may feel that God has never been further away. The Word of God says the opposite. He draws near to the broken.
Let me guard this carefully, because this verse is sometimes used in ways that hurt rather than heal.
First, it does not promise that faith will spare you from pain. Look at verse 19: “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.” Many troubles. Not few, not none. Scripture is honest that godly people suffer. Disappointment is not proof that you have failed or that God has rejected you.
Second, it does not mean you should hurry yourself out of grief. God’s nearness does not always arrive as an immediate change of feeling. Sometimes He is close long before you can sense it. Please do not decide He is absent simply because today still hurts. And if the heaviness has settled in for weeks, affecting your sleep, appetite or ability to function, please talk to someone and see your GP. Depression is real, and seeking help is not a lack of faith.
Third, God’s love for you is not measured by how your circumstances have turned out. If you want to know how much He loves you, do not look first at your situation. Look at Jesus.
And here this psalm does something remarkable. Verse 20 says of the righteous person, “he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.” When John describes the crucifixion, he notices that the soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals but did not break the legs of Jesus, and he says, “These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken’” (John 19:36). John sees Jesus as the true Righteous One of Psalm 34, and also as the Passover Lamb, whose bones were not to be broken (Exodus 12:46).
Think about what that means. The One who is “close to the brokenhearted” came close enough to be broken Himself. Isaiah 53:5 says, “he was crushed for our iniquities.” The same language of crushing. Jesus was crushed so that crushed people could be saved. He is not a distant God peering down at your disappointment. He has been in the dark Himself, and He came out the other side in resurrection.
So what does this look like in practice this Thursday?
Tell Him what hurts. David did not tidy up his story before he prayed, and neither should you. You can cry. You can ask questions. The psalms are full of honest complaint, and God included them in Scripture for people like us.
Let someone stand with you. God’s nearness often comes through His people: a friend who stays, a church family that listens, a pastor who prays. Here at All Nations we want to be a church where honest conversations are welcome and nobody has to pretend.
And hold on to the promise that the One who is close also “saves.” The Hebrew yasha, to save or deliver, is the root of the name Yeshua, Jesus. The salvation of the crushed in spirit has a name.
The fireworks will fade tonight. His love will not. You do not have to carry this alone.
Reflection
1. Is there a disappointment you have stopped talking to God about because it feels too painful or too unresolved? What would it look like to bring it to Him honestly today?
2. Who is one trusted person you could let into what you are carrying this week?
Prayer
Lord, thank You that You are close to the brokenhearted and that You save those who are crushed in spirit. I bring You my disappointment honestly, the prayers that seem unanswered and the hopes that have faded. Thank You for Jesus, who was crushed for my sake and who knows what it is to suffer. When I cannot feel You near, help me to trust that You are. Surround me with people who will stand with me, and give me courage to let them. Holy Spirit, comfort me, steady me and keep my heart turned towards You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
The Lord is close to me in my disappointment. My pain is not the measure of His love; the cross is.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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