The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:18
"Our praying is the shadow of God's giving.
Are you here?
Are you seeking the Lord?
Do not
seek him any longer.
You have got Him. Read the text.
Note, First,
It is the character of the righteous, whose prayers God will hear, that
they are of a broken heart and a contrite spirit (that is, humbled for
sin and emptied of self); they are low in their own eyes, and have no
confidence in their own merit and sufficiency, but in God only.
Secondly, Though God is high, and dwells on high, yet He is near to those who,
being of a contrite spirit, know how to value His favor, and will save
them from sinking under their burdens; He is near them to good purpose.
A broken heart — נשברי לב nishberey leb, the heart broken to shivers.
A contrite spirit. — דכאי רוח dakkeey ruach, "the beaten-out spirit." In both words the hammer
is necessarily implied; in breaking to pieces the ore first, and then
plating out the metal when it has been separated from the ore. This will
call to the reader's remembrance Jeremiah 23:29: "Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord? And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"
The breaking to shivers, and beating out, are metaphorical expressions: so are the hammer and the rock.
What the large hammer
struck on a rock by a powerful hand would do, so does the word of the
Lord when struck on the sinner's heart by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The broken heart, and the contrite spirit, are two essential characteristics of true repentance."
Adam Clarke/Matthew Henry/Charles Spurgeon