Righteousness Attracts God

[S] Psalm 34:17-20 --
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

20 He keeps all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.

[O] Lord hears the prayers (cries) of the righteous to deliver them from their troubles while He is near to the brokenhearted and saves who are crushed in spirit -- those who is unable to cry out to God.  As long as I uphold God's righteousness, He will not forget about me, in fact, not a bone in my body will be broken.

[A] If I want God to be present in my life, delivering me from troubles of life, stand to be righteous in the Lord because God just loves to be around those who are righteous in Him.

[P] Dear Father, Your message in verse 20 is very touching to my family now because one of my child is going through some bone marrow issues and my family and our whole church had been crying out to You to bring healing.  You will come through again so allow me to abide in You with peace and joy in You despite the circumstances.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

God of Universe is Next to Me

[S] Psalm 34:15-18 --
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17  The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

[O] I see the sensitive caring of our God for each of us here in this world from these verses.  He clearly distinguishes the righteous from the evildoers and his actions towards them are definitely set apart.  When I care for someone I give my eyes and ears to that person (e.g., I'm all ears) and  I can see we got that from His character mentioned in verse 15.  What a comfort to know that as long as I stay righteous in Him, he will watch and hear that all I say (cry out).  This passage closes with one of my favorite verse, again, displaying His wonderful caring towards me whenever I'm am up against the challenges of this world which may break my heart or crush my spirit, because even though I may have been flattened out, He will raise me up again.

[A] Whenever I feel like no one hears (or cares) about what I cry out about, I need to remember that my focus should not be about whether anyone (including God) cares but whether my heart stays righteous towards God or not.  Once this is set right, the rest is history.

[P] Dear loving and caring God, Your words of comfort from this passage covered me today.  Not that my heart is broken or spirit crushed but just knowing such a powerful God caring just for me out of 6.5 billion people is overwhelming.  Your awesomeness brings out the praise in me.  Thank You so much for being such a loving God as I pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.