Sunday, August 29, 2021

Dig Deep into Psalm 34:18

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, broken- hearted, troubled sinner? 
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 heartנשברי 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