“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
God’s daughters, Christ-followers, sitting together but each alone in their brokenness, hurt, pain, anger, and frustration. Some with eyes brimming with tears, some with cheeks wet and streaked by tears, while others sat stoic in their hurt and misunderstanding.
Everyone feeling the victim – unheard, misunderstood, not valued, and dismissed.
Spirits crushed.
Silent prayers being offered that the Meeting. Would. Just. End. Please God, make it STOP.
What was to be a vision-casting meeting to unite and begin a new phase of ministry left each of us filled with questions whether the ministry would even survive. And if it did, who among us would be left to pick up the pieces.
God’s daughters. Christ-followers. Broken and Crushed.
The Hebrew word used in Psalm 34:18 for “broken” is the word also translated as burst, broken-down, broken-off, broken into pieces, destroyed, hurt, quenched, shattered. It’s the same word used in Exodus (32:19) and Deuteronomy (9:17) to describe the destruction of the two stone tablets on which God Himself had written the Ten Commandments.
“And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.”
Shattered and destroyed.
The word “heart” (-hearted) used in Psalm 34:18 refers to the inner being of a person, the seat of a person’s emotions. The psalmist is saying in essence, “a shattered inner being or spirit.”
The psalmist goes on with his description saying, “crushed in spirit.” The Hebrew word “crushed” literally means powder – dust. “Spirit” is a reference to the breath of life.
David, the psalmist, the shepherd, one-day-king of Israel, a man after God’s own heart, is describing a person with devasting spiritual wounds. He is describing himself.
He was also describing some of the women sitting around that table, including myself; women who felt her inner being had been shattered and her very breath of life turned to dust.
Is it possible that the psalmist was also describing you? Do you know that gut-wrenching feeling of brokenness? Have you been there? Have you cried the tears of a shattered spirit?
Read the verse again and take heart.
“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
No matter how alone each of us may have felt sitting at that table or in the car on the way home or as we sat pondering what was said, what should have been said, what should not have been said, we were not alone. I was not alone. God is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the crushed in spirit. And dear sister, you are not alone either.
The hurts have not all been healed, the wounds are still raw, and there is much work to be done to repair relationships and reunite in a spirit of forgiveness, reconciliation, and love. But God, our Loving Father will answer our prayers for healing and in Him we will find the unity and reconciliation that can be found only in Him.
“9O Lord, all my longing is before You; my sighing is not hidden from You. 10My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes – it also has gone from me. 15But for You, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O LORD my God, Who will answer.” Psalm 38:6, 8-10, 15
As I pray and wait and work for healing and restoration, I must consider the words of the Apostle Paul in Colossians 3:12-17 and evaluate my own words and behavior to make certain that I am “putting on” – that is, living out, God’s instructions for His chosen ones who He describes as holy and beloved:
- Is my behavior holy?
- Am I acting as one chosen and beloved by God?
- Is my heart compassionate?
- Are my words and my actions kind?
- Is my spirit humble or has pride crept in?
- Do I really understand the meaning of meekness?
- Am I patient with others?
- Am I extending grace in bearing with my sisters in Christ allowing for differences of opinion and diversity of needs?
- Do I forgive as quickly and completely as I ask God to forgive me when I mess up?
- Do I love others as Jesus has loved me?
- Am I doing all things to bring glory to the name of the Lord Jesus, or am I attempting to bring glory to myself?
Hard questions, demanding honest answers. And for every question to which the answer is “no,” I must confess, repent, and ask for God’s forgiveness.
Paul concludes this passage with these Spirit-breathed words:
14And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col 3:12-17 ESV
My Prayer.
Father God, “let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Ps.19:14) I claim your promise that You, LORD are near to the brokenhearted and that You save the crushed in spirit.
Heal the brokenness in our hearts and in our relationships, restore the spirits that are crushed, and the emotions that are in turmoil. May Your love and Your peace reign in the hearts of Your chosen ones and may we seek to serve you with undivided hearts and spirits. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus, my Lord and my Savior. Amen and Amen.