Today's verses are 15-18.
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
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.
I used to read passages like this and think, I need to always do all the right things because, otherwise, God won't see or hear me. That's what it means to be righteous.
The reason we need Jesus is because we cannot be righteous on our own.
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV1984)
Paul talked about "not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:9 (NIV1984)
He also implored Timothy twice to "pursue righteousness" (among other things) through the power of the Holy Spirit, so righteousness, much like freedom, is something we must learn to walk out.
Now let's focus on the last verse.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
God is in the business of healing the broken. This is why Jesus, who had no sin, became sin for us, so that we would no longer have to live under the power of sin, and no longer be disconnected from our Source of life and our Creator.
If you are brokenhearted and crushed in spirit today, this verse is a powerful reminder that God is near. He liberates and delivers those who are crushed in spirit. You can cry out to Him; He is close and He will answer.
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