There are seasons when unhappiness has no single cause, when you no longer even know exactly why the weight is so heavy. The Bible does not avoid this reality. The psalmist often weeps. Jesus wept at His friend’s tomb. Christianity is not a religion of forced optimism.
Psalm 34 does not promise that sadness will pass tomorrow; it says something else, almost more beautiful: the LORD is near to those who are brokenhearted. Not far, like a God who looks down from above on your sorrow. Near. Beside you. When you cannot rise, He sits down with you.
“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18
Biblical echoes
Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.
Lamentations 3:32-33
But, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.
Psalm 147.3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Revelation 21.4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.
