Daily Manna · Day 149 · May 29
Near to the Broken
“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
When you fall apart, people back away. Not cruelly. They run out of words, the messages thin out, and you learn to answer fine because it is easier on everyone.
God moves the other way, and the psalm is technical about it. Nigh is nearness of position, the word used of the kinsman who has both the right and the obligation to step in. Broken heart is the word for shattered, used of bones and of pottery. Contrite is narrower than sad: crushed small, ground to powder. And the psalm never asks what did the crushing. It draws no line between the sin you cannot undo and the loss you never chose. It only locates God, and he is not at a safe distance from either one.
So this is a door rather than an order. You may stop performing composure when you pray, including the composure of a well-organised confession. And if you know somebody in a crushed season, the same door is open to you as the one who does not back away. You will not need words. The whole offer is that you go, and stay, and let it be awkward.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 149 is Choked With Cares (Luke 8:14).