PSALM 34:17-18 "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Some things to understand about Psalms is that it is a collection of songs, prayers, and poetry. Most of it revolves around cries of despair, but it also offers a good amount of praise of God as both a comforter and provider. The psalms were written to be sung in churches and in public. The poems in the book of Psalms were written over a 1,000-year period from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. Most were written by David. The Holy Spirit oversaw the cutting and expansion of the final text for use in worship. The Psalms are deeply emotional writings expressing the soul of the human spirit. It should also be noted that psalms and the writing of the psalms were part of ordinary life for Israelites. The individual psalms were written for different purposes. Some were originally meant for private devotion, and others were written specifically to be read in public. The psalms are written in powerful poetic language and contain individual responses to God. They became part of the community worship life.
Many of the Psalms also refer directly to Jesus Christ which is a testament to their wonder in that they were written well before Jesus Christ was ever born. The same can be said for the entirety of the Old Testament. I am not addressing this verse in this post but Psalm 34:20 "He guards all his bones, Not one of them is broken." is referencing Jesus Christ and is fulfilled in John 19:32, 33, and 36. There are over 20 examples of this in Psalm offering even more of a reason that they are to be read and understood with a fervent level of reverence.
Application: These Psalms are not saying that God will deliver us from our troubles "right now". He does these things in His time but hears us and in many cases, relief can come very quickly. God knows what is best for us, but we are asked to continually petition and cry out to Him. He is the great comforter and our deliverer. Just as an example, there is an autistic individual online that has struggles from day to day. No, it is not my son for those of you that know my son is autistic. Like many autistic young adults and children, the sway of how they perceive things are going can vary widely. This individual was crying out all day yesterday and even changed his avatar to say that he was "trash". There were many comforting messages to him telling him to stop and that his lament was not true, but none mentioned God. One did and it encouraged him to seek God above all else, and it wasn't long before he took down the post and changed his avatar back to the one he normally uses. Today he apologized to everyone that follows him for letting himself get that low. This person is clearly experiencing relief right now so we do see God's comfort and God's power in daily situations. These types of things and the abundance of miracles are our constant reminders to cry out to the Lord, both in praise and with our sorrow.
Question: Do we turn to ourselves more than we do God for the answers and the comfort of our souls?
18. SO
18. SO
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