READ: Psalm 34:1-18
Have you ever heard of stress fractures? They’re tiny cracks in bones or buildings caused by repetitive force or friction. It’s not like a major break where the moment of injury is obvious. Stress fractures take place over a long period of time.
Our hearts can experience stress fractures too. Sometimes our hearts break slowly. We didn’t face a serious breakup, loss, or trauma. Rather, we are just feeling broken after a series of small setbacks or a season of stress. We’ve all faced these small fractures in some way. We’ve experienced shame, rejection, unmeetable expectations, uncertain outcomes, or a vague sensation of restlessness. Eventually, it becomes too much to bear, and we break.
Psalm 34 was written when David was seeking refuge while on the run from Saul. He thought he had found a safe place with the Philistine kingdom. However, the king realized that David was a valuable hostage, so he captured him as a prisoner. David panicked, so he pretended to be a mad man. (Check out 1 Sam 22 for the whole story. It’s fascinating.) At first glance, it seems like David just faked his breakdown, but Psalm 34 suggests some of his madness was authentic. David was fearful for his future, stressed over his current situation, and punishing himself for the mistakes of his past. All the stress made him break.
Chaos can make us extra creative. Whether it’s imagining a far-fetched future or turning our agony into art, pain brings out the Psalm-writer in all of us. When writing this Psalm, David creates an alphabetic acrostic. This means that the lines and stanzas appear in alphabetical order without any repeated letters. Sometimes it feels like our troubles can be cataloged from A – Z. It seems as though we can put our pain into an alphabetized list. As David composes his list of frustrations, he gives us a solution for stress. We must understand that “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18).
God is closest to you in times of pain. David invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:8). He is saying that it goes beyond intellect. It’s an experience. Whenever your heart splinters with stress fractures or breaks into a million pieces, this passage promises that God is with you. He’s actually extra close in times of chaos. There is comfort in closeness. It’s the reason a hug feels so good after a hard day. It’s the reason children feel safe in the arms of their parents and protectors.
God isn’t just above you in heaven or looking at you on some cosmic television screen. God is with you. He is where you are right now. Whether you’re alone in your room or surrounded by people at school, God is with you. God is closest when you feel the most broken. Let your anguish provoke awareness of God’s presence.