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Scripture Reference: Psalm 34:17-22

These promises are made to those who have received the righteousness of Christ, because there are none that are righteous in their own strength. There are countless promises for the righteous throughout Scripture and in this portion of Psalm 34 I noticed seven.

1. God Hears Us When we Call to Him

First there is a promise that God will answer the prayers of His people: “The righteous cry out and the LORD hears them.” Jesus said to pray and never to give up. God is hearing and He promises to deliver you from whatever trouble you may find yourself in. Jesus promises that in this world we will have trouble, but that we should remain encouraged because He overcame the world and that means He overcome whatever troubles the world may throw our way as well. He already has the solution to your trouble even before you pray. Just keep on calling to God.

2. God Delivers Us from All our Troubles

It does not say from some of their troubles. It is written: “He delivers them from all their troubles.” If we have prayed for deliverance from a certain situation for a long time, here is a promise that should fill us with hope. “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; ” The Lord is listening and at the right time, He will deliver you. Faith in God also requires that we trust His timing. He ensures that although we may be tested by our troubles, they will only serve to develop us and never to destroy us. No matter how many troubles a righteous person has, the Lord promises to deliver him from all of them. He doesn’t only deliver us out of one dilemma and then tell us that our tally for help from Him is now full. He is there to help each and every time we find ourselves in trouble.

3. God is Closest to Us when we are in Pain

We have no promise in this life that we will never be brokenhearted just because we are His children. But we do have this promise: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” He will not leave us alone, although it feels as if He deserted us when we our hearts are so broken that we can barely whisper a prayer. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we may also be able to comfort others when they are in trouble with the same comfort we have received from God.

4. God Takes our Hand when we feel we can’t go on

When our spirits are crushed, the Lord will sustain us and keep us. A crushed spirit is a terrible thing. Ask anyone who is suffering from depression. A weak body may be sustained by a strong spirit, but a healthy body cannot sustain a crushed spirit. When we are close to giving up, the Lord promises to save us from the dark spiritual dungeon we may find ourselves in. Being crushed in spirit may also refer to the condition of our hearts when we first come to the Lord to repent of our sins. It is then that all pride and arrogance are crushed in the presence of a holy, powerful and majestic God. We serve a faithful God who keeps His promises and He says He “saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

5. God Keeps us Spiritually Healthy

“He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.” Okay, this is not a promise that none of the Lord’s children will ever fracture a bone. It has to be read in context with the entire Bible.  All these promises for the righteous are made first and foremost to the Righteous One, namely Jesus Christ. This is therefore a reference to what will happen to Him on the Cross. This passage is also quoted in the New Testament to confirm that Scripture is fulfilled and that God keeps His promises (see John 19:36).

We only share in the aforementioned promises because we have received His righteousness. This particular one however, is a direct reference to Christ on the Cross. Although it was standard practice to break the bones of the crucified in order to speed up death and to prevent them from crawling up on the cross in order to breath better, the Roman soldiers never broke one of Jesus’ bones because by the time they were about to do that, He was already dead.

I see this also as a promise about our ensured spiritual well-being. None of our spiritual bones are broken by our enemy. Our bones are the framework of our bodies. Without them we would be pliable and formless blobs. In Christ, we are promised to be kept safe and standing strong although we have an enemy that comes at us in all directions. Perhaps he succeeds here and there to temporarily cast us down, but he cannot destroy us because our Defender is strong.

6. God will Rescue Us

An encouragement to those who grow tired of the enemy’s onslaughts. All the opponents of the righteous will be destroyed. They will be destroyed by the evil they have chosen to submit to. In other words, they will self-destruct. All the foes of the righteous will be condemned by their own choices. They chose evil and evil will slay them. The Lord makes a promise to rescue all His servants. There is a promise similar to this one in Isaiah 54. There it says that no weapon formed against us shall prosper and that this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.

7. God will Never Condemn those who seek Refuge in Him

No one who seeks refuge in Him will be condemned. Jesus confirmed this when He said that He will never push anyone away that comes to Him. It’s that simple. Come to the Lord and He will give you rest from all your labour. He is tender and merciful and forgiving and loving. He is calling to you today. Even after the Lord declares that destruction awaits the wicked, He still extends an open invitation and says that if they should turn away from evil and come to Him, they will never be condemned.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17

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