“The Lord IS near to those who have a broken heart, And SAVES such as have a contrite spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.”  Psalm 34:18-19

If you are heavy with grief, loneliness, depression, or other suffering of the soul this season, I want you to know you are not alone.  God is drawn, not repelled to you.  In fact, the word for contrite here is “dakka” which means dust. Being broken hearted is definitely a qualifying condition to feeling pulverized like dust.  It is about as low as you can feel and God still promises to be near to you, deliver you and give you victory.

Oh, I have been that one; the one that felt like dust.  When our daughter died at Christmas, I really thought that God hated me.  It was the culmination of years of loss and heartache, failure, and pain.  How could the God that I loved so much take something so precious from me?  I felt He must have it in for me…… My tears were my food day and night…..

I would love to say that something magical happened in that moment that delivered me from all of my pain, but it didn’t happen for me that way….  and though at the time I didn’t feel Him near to me, I hoped that He was and that He would somehow save me from the ash heap I was buried in.  

Today I understand this scripture so much differently.  The Lord IS near and SAVES.  It was His action that moved me and comforted me.  It is the promise of His presence that I must trust in.  It is the promise of His salvation that I must believe in.  Looking back, there is honestly no other way that I made it except that He made good on His promise; He was near to me and He did save me. 

“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble,

And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Is. 57:15

He showed me His love in a new way, a way that I had not known before and He showed me a new “normal” for my life.  It didn’t erase the past or take it away from me, but added to it and honored it.  Now, I can stand before you and testify that  I truly live in peace, comfort, and hope because of Jesus.

If this is you today, know that you are not alone.  God does not hate you.  If you can, silence the “whys” of what you are enduring for just a moment….they will never lead you to peace.  The truth is, we don’t know the “whys” of this life.  BUT there is something we do know.  We have a promise.  His promise to us is that He IS near and that He SAVES.  Rest in that promise. 

Rest in Him today….He is near.