Psalm 34:18, “YHWH is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
If YHWH is near to the broken-hearted, it is fitting that we ask the question, “how near?”
And isn’t the only answer: “as near as can be conceived, as near as is possible…” And how near is that? Certainly the incarnation gives us the answer.
This aspect of YHWH’s character, that He is near to the broken-hearted, or that He is “with him who is of a ‘crushed’ and lowly spirit” (Is.57:15), is fittingly consummated when YHWH Himself actually becomes the Broken-Hearted One, when He takes to Himself the spirit-crushing weight of all who are crushed in spirit, when He enters into the plight of His people and defines the limits of their lowliness by His own experience of lowliness.
The incarnation of the Son of God, who is YHWH, and His identification with His people in obedience to His Father unto death, even death on the cross IS the consummate manifestation of the character that YHWH has always had, the character that the Psalmist and the Prophets extolled and in which they hoped. Yes, here in Psalm 34:18, we see the seed whose full and fruit-bearing flower blooms on Calvary’s tree.
PS: the nearness of YHWH to us in our brokenness is ONLY beautiful news because He is raised up again from the depths and so makes our brokenness a path to His presence…I’ve included a hint of that hope in this picture…I wonder if you can see it?
