“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.” Psalm 34:18-19

As we seek daily to keep the faith, we know it is important to remember God’s promises, but what we may not realize is that it’s equally important to remember what God hasn’t promised. The snake in the Garden didn’t trick Eve because he’s such a great liar. The snake tricked Eve because she became confused by his line of questioning. She didn’t cling to a strong remembrance of what the Lord had said and so the snake led her to distrust God and she fell for the snake’s twisted version of the truth. Similarly, Adam fell for Eve’s explanation because he was listening more to her influence than he was to what God had originally told him. Brothers and Sisters, let’s not be like Adam and Eve.

Today, let us remember that God promises to be near when we are brokenhearted, to save us when our spirit is crushed, to deliver us from our afflictions. And let’s also remember what is not promised. God doesn’t promise that we won’t ever feel brokenhearted. He doesn’t promise that we won’t experience spirit crushing events. He doesn’t promise that we won’t have afflictions. In fact, He promises that many are the afflictions of the righteous; the closer we draw to Him, the more righteous we are in His eyes, the more afflictions we will encounter. Why? Because oftentimes afflictions, situations that break our hearts or crush our spirits, these are the situations in which strength and faith grow, where we can see our prayers answered and God’s rescue occur. Other times the enemy sends trouble our way because he can’t stand to see God’s people getting closer to God and he wants to make us afraid or angry to throw us off on our commitment to follow the path of righteous.

Sweet friends, just because afflictions come your way doesn’t mean God isn’t faithful. In fact, it further proves His Word is true. If we open our eyes to His moving in our lives, we can see that God is near to us at all times, that He hears us, saves us, delivers us. For a couple of years now, I’ve experienced an increasing broken-heartedness over a pattern of events and throughout God has been faithful to send me comfort through His Word and through friends who speak truth to me in love and encourage me to stay focused on God and not on my current troubles. As time has progressed, I can tell that I have grown stronger in my love for and trust of God and stronger in my love for others and my desire to encourage and support them. I do not think this kind of growth would have happened had that pattern, heartbreaking and at times spirit draining as it is, not transpired the way it has.

Beloved, this is but one example. If you reflect on your own life, I guarantee you’ll see more. Look to the lives of the saints you know and to the saints of the Bible. Even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ knew rejection and suffering and pain. He had feelings and He knew what it was to be frustrated and how it felt to mourn. Stand firmly on this promise: afflictions will come at times BUT God will always be near to you, to comfort you, to save you, to deliver you. You may not see it yet, but everything can enable you to grow closer to God. Release your heartbreak. Embrace the Savior. All things will work together for your good and His glory. And that’s a promise.