Daily Devotions

A barista I know once dropped a full tray on his first week back at work. The cups smashed on the tiles, and he stood there red-faced, sure he had ruined everything. But the older woman training him did not sigh or turn away. She crouched down beside him among the broken pieces and started picking them up with him, close, steady, unbothered by the mess. He said later it was the moment he decided to stay.

Psalm 34 was written by David, a man on the run, hunted and hiding, pretending to be mad to save his own life. Out of that fear he writes not about a distant God but a near one. In these closing verses he gathers up everyone who feels shattered — the brokenhearted, the crushed in spirit — and says plainly that the LORD is near to them. Not near to the strong or the impressive. Near to the ones who have given way.

So you do not have to gather yourself up before God will come close. Whatever gave way in you this week, that is exactly where he draws near. Today, instead of hiding the broken thing, let one honest sentence be true in his presence: name it, quietly, and know he is not backing away. Nearness is his answer to your breaking.