Weekly Lift

Is the Lord close?

What do we mean when we talk about being close to someone?

Obviously we might mean it physically and literally.

But we often talk about being close to someone "emotionally". What does this mean? I think what we often mean by this is that we know a person well. If we are close to them, we know them well, we know what they are going through, and perhaps we have been through a lot alongside them. A parent who is close to their child, a husband and wife who are close, a group of friends who are close... it often means that they know each other well.

If I said that you and I were close, it probably means that I feel we know each other well or that we've been through something together that has emotionally "bonded" us.

But what does it mean to be close to God?

Perhaps it means exactly the same thing. To be close to God can mean that there is a shared knowledge, a shared experience, a bond of understanding.

This is a beautiful verse from Psalm 34:

It's quite a strong statement. The Lord IS CLOSE to the brokenhearted. King David, as he writes this, is someone who has been brokenhearted. He has been rescued many times by the Lord. He has confessed his sins many times, and he has been humbled and lifted up. David has walked with the Lord through good times and bad times. The best and worst of his life has been lived close to God.

But what he says here is very important - the LORD is close to US when we are brokenhearted. There is a confidence here. Even when we FEEL God is far away, even when we FEEL that we are not close to God, God is close to us.

And how important it is to hear this when we are brokenhearted. It is when we are broken, weeping, shattered, hurting, that we often don't feel like anyone is close enough to know what we are going through or to feel our pain. Yet God is. God walks with the brokenhearted. God sits with them, weeps with them, walks with them, crawls with them. With us.

What an amazing yet simple verse. God is close to us at our most vulnerable. How is he close? He knows us. He understands us. And he has SHARED our experience...

It is in Jesus Christ where we see for ourselves that God walked the earth and understood the depths of the pain of humanity. He walked in our broken world and in our broken lives. Yet he overcame.

We have a God who is always close to us, when no one else can be, and he understands us because he has shared our human experience.

He saves us when we are crushed in spirit. What a great promise this is. As the next verse continues:

God knows us. He knows our troubles, our pain, our brokenness. And he understands it all. And he is close to us. Right now.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Remind me today that you are close to me, even when I may not feel that you are. Remind me today that you understand my troubles, my pain, my heartache and my crushed spirit. And deliver me.

Amen.