Ground to Dust
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears and rescues them from all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:17-18 NASB
Crushed in spirit – Gristmills. Coffee grinders. Rock crushers. When you read this verse, do you feel the pressure? Are you being ground to dust by the weight of living? Perhaps you’ll find it interesting that, with one exception, the Hebrew verb here (dākāʾ) is only used of people. It’s not about gristmills, coffee grinders or rock crushers. It’s about us! It’s about emotional and spiritual suffering. Ultimately, it’s about human life returning to dust.
With this mind, pay attention to the promise. God saves those who are experiencing emotional and spiritual suffering. God is not interested in turning you into dust. The one-way ticket to the grave wasn’t His intention. In fact, His plan is to reverse the whole process. So far that has taken many millennia. But today, this day, He wants to stop the grinding.
If that’s true (and it is), then why does it seem like I’m being pulverized. Why do Heschel’s remarks seem so true?
“How to live in a world pestered with lies and remain unpolluted, how not to be stricken with despair, not to flee but to fight and succeed in keeping the soul unsoiled and even aid in purifying the world?”[1]
“Scratch the skin of any person and you come upon sorrow, frustration, unhappiness.”[2]
The answer is found in a derivative of this verb. That derivative is the adjective dakkāʾ. It explains why God’s saving intention doesn’t always become our reality. The word means contrite or humble. God saves those who are contrite and humble. The promise is conditional. Its implementation depends on us.
“Suffering does not redeem; it only makes one worthy of redemption.”[3]
The crucial question is: “Am I repentant?” Salvation isn’t a one-way operation. It’s constantly available because God initiates it, but its application depends on human receptivity. That means it works when we are self-effacing, when we are ready to let go of our ego issues. God saves those crushed. He saves those who have discovered their complete incapacity to save themselves, those who give themselves up to the divine initiative and the divine assessment. And, by the way, that isn’t so easy or so often the case. As Heschel notes: “Suffering as chastisement is man’s own responsibility; suffering as redemption is God’s responsibility.”[4]
So, are you? Are you really repentant? Really ready to admit you can’t rescue yourself? Really ready to have the suffering and sorrow end God’s way? To move from dākāʾ to dakkāʾ?
Topical Index: crushed, sorrow, repentant, contrite, dākāʾ, dakkāʾ, Psalm 34:17-18
[1] Abraham Heschel, Man Is Not Alone, p. 179.
[2] Abraham Heschel, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, p. 146.
[3] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), Vol 1, p. 94.
[4] Ibid., p. 151.
