The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to blot out their name from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:15-18

There are times in every person’s life when they feel crushed in spirit, when there seems to be no way out of their troubles, when they feel that life has beaten them down into a sense of hopelessness.

I don’t know anyone, over a certain age, who hasn’t been there to one degree or another.

Sometimes this happens because of mistakes or poor decisions we’ve made. Sometimes we’ve been victims of crime or dishonesty on the part of someone else, and maybe we’ve just had a string of bad luck. It could even be that we think we’re in a terrible and disastrous bind, only to have it turn out to be nothing at all; I’m guessing most of us have had that happen. Even so, whatever the cause might be, when we are in the middle of one of those really tough times, the feeling of catastrophe is very real indeed.

Even in the worst of situations, God is there, He hears our cries, He is in our corner and He has our back. If there is an evil doer in the picture, He will ensure they get their just desserts: God will make us whole again if we allow Him to do so. He will do that if we will allow Him to be in charge, if we will let go of the situation and the emotions of the situation and turn to Him in humility and submission, and that begins in prayer. The Psalmist conti9nues…

The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalm 34:19-22