Episode 25: Psalm 34:18
Transcription
Today’s verse is Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Let’s pray together.
LORD, how many of us are brokenhearted today. We have corporate loss as humanity and personal loss as individuals. The weight of it can definitely feel like it is crushing our spirits. A heavy darkness weighs over us and it seems like no light can dispel it. We have all lost something important to us. We have all had disappointment, grief, sorrow, pain, anguish. We have been betrayed or abandoned. We have lost parents, siblings, children, spouses, grandparents. We have lost jobs, health, friends, or dreams.
Help us not to despair. Jesus, You promised to be near to us. Always, but especially when we need comfort, when our hearts are broken. Holy Spirit, You are the Great Comforter. Only You can mend what was shattered beyond human repair. Please be with us. Whisper comfort to our hearts. Tell us how you never abandon us. Let us feel Your presence. Don’t leave us bereft and alone. We can feel trapped and isolated in these times, God, but assure us with Your companionship.
Jesus, I pray for extra strength and endurance. We need to persevere through these hard times when we feel like giving up. When it seems so much easier to give up. But that is not the answer, LORD, for You are a mighty Victor. You are our Champion! The war is won, though we still have to battle while we are on this earth. I ask You to show Your strength and to show Your military might, by fighting for us and achieving the impossible end we didn’t think was possible. Prove us wrong when we doubt, help our unbelief. Grow our faith, give us hope, shine a light in the darkness.
God, I do not want to remain a captor of the darkness. I want to come out, broken, but saved, then mended and restored by Your love and Your blood. You saved us already, You sacrificed everything, Jesus. I do not need to wallow in my sin and the consequences of it, both mine, everyone else’s, and of the broken world. I admit that I am nothing without You. So I am so grateful I do not need to remain away from You. You want to be near me, You came down to earth for me, You live inside of me. I literally cannot escape from Your Presence or Your help. When I try, forgive my foolish pride and independence.
Help us to be humble, to be seekers of truth and wisdom, to acknowledge our guilt and helplessness. To never try to control or seek to fix or fight on our own. We literally can’t do it. We will fail, we will be miserable. It will be a wretched cycle of grief that You sacrificed Yourself to save us from. So, Jesus, be near to the brokenhearted because then we have the greatest ability to surrender. Our defenses are weakened, so come and conquer our hearts with Your mercy. When we have lost all, we know we need a Savior. We all need a Savior. Use this opportunity, LORD to save us, from sin, from the enemy, from ourselves.
Father, there are wounds that seem too deep to mend, losses that can never be restored, people we will never get back. But that is only true on this earth and what reunions and rejoicing we can have in Your kingdom. Help us to look forward to that with hope, to hold on to the truths and love and images of You those we lost taught us. I do not say it is not hard and that there aren’t tears and that it isn’t okay to feel the pain. Jesus, be with us in the pain. Help us not to run from it or hide from it or stuff it away or bury it with distraction. Instead, hold us tight as we ride those waves, the uncertainty and the weird timing of pain and the loneliness of it all. It certainly is not something we can handle on our own, but something You can help us carry.
Thank You, Jesus, that You are close to the brokenhearted and You do not forget those crushed in their spirits. There is not a need, a grief, a loss, a pain, a trial, a sickness, a situation that You cannot handle. Jesus, whatever it may be that we are dealing with today, You know it. You know it and though it grieves You as well, it does not scare You. Thank You for helping us, help us to be grateful and to see that help, however it comes through Your wisdom.
I pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.
