“The righteous cry, and the Lord hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:17-18) (NASB)
The context of Psalm 34.
Psalm 34 is a Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech (Achish-King of the Philistines). Abimelech drove David away and he departed.
David begins this psalm with a vow, or promise: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be in my mouth.” (v1) Here David promises to persistently praise God. His praise, while based upon a specific event in his life, is ongoing. David is committing to praising God at every opportunity. Just as we are to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), David promises to praise without ceasing.
While verse 1 stresses the frequency of David’s praise, verses 2 and 3 reveal the focus and fellowship of praise. Praise cannot remain private, when David publicly praised God at worship; he promotes worship on the part of the entire congregation. David is not dwelling on his experiences, or even on his deliverance, instead, David dwells on his Deliverer. The Lord is both the subject and object or David’s praise. Those who loved God, as David did, could rejoice with him. This can be seen also in the New Testament “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15).
Verses 4-7 speak of David’s deliverance. David describes his deliverance which is the basis for his praise and teaching. Reading Psalm 34 and the account in 1 Samuel 21, we know the details of the deliverance to which David is referring. The fact that Psalm 34 points us back to 1 Samuel 21 indicates that there was no attempt to conceal David’s failures. The Psalmist intended for us to interpret Psalm 34 in the light of those failures. There is no effort here to “cover up” for David’s mistakes or to make him look better. David is not stressing his deliverance from danger in these verses (a result of his own sins), but instead his deliverance from his fears.
Verses 8-10 are about God’s provision and personal protection. The afflictions of the righteous are many. The righteous must expect affliction. A significant shift occurs in verse 8. The Psalm which is based on David’s personal experiences shifts from the deliverance of David (v4-7) to exhorting and instructing others to experience the goodness of God in their lives. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” is directed towards those worshipping with David, the Israelites who have come to worship God. David is encouraging them to experience the blessings that he himself has experienced. The “goodness of the Lord” (v8a) is God’s protection (v8b) and His provision (v9b). The emphasis of verses 8-10 is to invite others to experience the same kind of blessings for which David is praising God.
Verses 11 through 22 then are all instruction in the Fear of the Lord. David’s entire style changes in verse 11 from exhortation to instruction, from public praise to a kind of preaching. David instructs us in a form nearly identical to the form found in the Book of Proverbs. The subject of fear of the Lord is introduced in v11. In verses 12-14, the results of a fear of God are described. Verses 15-18 then depict the relationship which a fear of the Lord establishes.
The Lord is near our cry and our troubles.
“The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles “(Psalm 34:17) (NASB)
The Lord’s nearness to the righteous does not mean that they don’t suffer. From verses 13-14 you could erroneously conclude that if one does good, good days will automatically come. This is not the case however. Verse 17 reaffirms the act of deliverance in verses 4-6 and expands on this deliverance to include all troubles.
We all know that life is not fair. Around every corner and at every crossroads in life there are dangers, disappointments, troubles, trials, sickness, and even death awaiting those who are traveling the road of life. We are often caught unaware, cruising along on auto-pilot when everything suddenly changes. One minute we are enjoying life, the next we are being crushed by a thousand problems that try to defeat us and destroy us.
Because of the sin that lives in the heart of every man and woman through Adam’s fall and through our own rebellion against God’s laws, all of us are susceptible to being shipwrecked in life’s troubled seas. Whether we serve the Lord, or serve Satan, those troubled times will come. We don’t want to face the storms of life, but we all know there is no escaping reality.
In Job 14: 1-2, after all of his suffering, Job has arrived at one conclusion when he says, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.”
I wish that I could tell you that you will not have to face any more of life’s storms and that from the moment you receive Jesus into your heart that life will be nothing but smooth sailing until the day you sell into the sunset on a tranquil sea into heaven’s harbor! But, I can’t. What I can tell you is that even though the storms will surely come, there is still reason to rejoice. In the midst of any storm you can have a song in Christ that will enable your heart to sing for joy. You can sleep in perfect peace, you can lift up your head in hope.
How can this be? What power gives that kind of peace, joy, confidence, and hope? There is only once source of that kind of power. It is found through serving the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoying Him to be the captain of your soul and guide in life’s stormy seas. How far down into the depths of sin must we go before we finally realize there is only one who can deliver us from the evil that tries to destroy us? There is no hope outside of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross for our sin.
Even though David’s life was filled with broken pieces, God still brought him through. Remember Peter? He was continually reacting in carnal ways and Jesus often chastised him leaving Peter’s spirit broken and his heart heavy. But through the broken pieces of Peter’s life, Jesus brought him to a glorious reward. This is the way our lives are going to be until the day that Jesus calls us home. We must all come to a place where we must be broken, shattered by the mercy of God as He reveals the sin and weakness within us. But each time we confess our sin and brokenness to Him we are forgiven and made strong through the blood of Christ. Each time we rise up a little stronger. Each time he restores our soul and brings us one step closer to home.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
The Lord is near our brokenheartedness.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) (NASB)
Are you right now a brokenhearted, troubled, a worthless sinner? Are you seeking the Lord? You don’t have to seek Him any longer, you already have Him! Listen again: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” He is with you right now. Speak to Him; cry out to Him, TRUST HIM! If you do, you will find deliverance right now!
The fear of the Lord is the basis of a relationship between God and man. God is described in verse 18 as being “near the brokenhearted.” His eyes and ears are ever attentive to the cries of the righteous; the righteous trust in the Lord as evidenced by their cries for deliverance (Psalm 34:15-17). In contrast to the pride and arrogance of the wicked, the righteous are humble and brokenhearted. The bottom line is that the righteous are dependent upon God, looking to Him for deliverance rather than trusting in their own strength. David also learned this lesson at Gath. Human ingenuity did not save David (acting as if he was insane); he was delivered by God’s grace in response to David’s humble petition for deliverance. David was saved in spite of his cleverness and because of God’s mercy.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
God not only takes notice of what we say, but is ready to give us relief. It is the character of the righteous whose prayers God will hear, that they are brokenhearted and have a contrite and humbled spirit. They are lowly sinners in their own eyes, and have no confidence in their own merit and sufficiency…..their confidence is instead in Christ. Those who have God near them to comfort and support them will not have their spirit broken.
“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)
Although are God dwells on high, he is ever near to those who being of contrite spirit, know how to value his grace, and he will save them from sinking under their burdens. He is always near them for good purpose.
“The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.” (Psalm 145:18-20)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
God seeks us out and pursues us. We were created by Him to fellowship with Him. No matter how “brokenhearted” and “crushed in spirit” we may be, the Lord is near to His faithful followers!
We cannot move forward on our spiritual paths unless we are discontented with where we are. It’s always about stepping outside of our comfort zone, trusting in the Lord to improve our situation. If we don’t realize that our comfort zone is limiting us and crushing our spirit, blocking our hearts from seeking truth, then we are not yet ready to surrender our entire being to Jesus and move forward. You can have assurance that He is always with you, ready to help in any situation or circumstance. You can trust that God will guide you through any difficulty.
God turns his presence and care toward the righteous. He hears their cries. He delivers them out of all of their trouble. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. He is near to the brokenhearted.
All of us followers of Christ are facing storms in our lives. Every one of us has our own “cross to bear” in this life. What I must do might be different than what you must do, but we all have a job to do for the Lord. Are you facing a tough time in your life right now? Are you brokenhearted? Maybe God is placing you on the potter’s wheel one more time, molding you a little bit more into His image. If you aren’t serving the Lord right now then you need to run to Jesus as fast as you can. Because he wants you to come to Him for deliverance and salvation.