Context No. 2777 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 34:17-22: in context

17The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. 19Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. 20He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken. 21Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. 22The LORD redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

This is a psalm of steady trust, and it is honest about pain even as it promises rescue. The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them from all their troubles. He is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Notice what the psalm does not say. It does not claim the righteous have few troubles; it says their afflictions are many. What it promises is not a life without breaking but a God who draws near precisely in the breaking. Nearness in the affliction, not exemption from it. And the quiet line about keeping all his bones, not one broken, will be lifted up at the cross, where the crushed and unbroken One fulfills it in his own body.

When my heart is broken, do I believe the Lord is not distant but near, close to exactly this kind of pain?

Sources

Psalm 34:18: "The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit."
John 19:36: "For these things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of him will not be broken."
2 Corinthians 1:4: "Who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction."