The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18 NASB Crushed – One of the joys of teaching English to Italian businesspeople is explaining English idioms. Every language and every culture has its own idioms. Italian, for example, has a lovely idiom about keeping a secret: acqua en boca, which…
For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. Psalm 66:10-11 NASB Oppressive burden – Life is difficult. God is in control. Often those two sentences seem to be completely contradictory. If God is good and He is…
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17 NASB Broken/Contrite – “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins.” Ah, well, maybe. Maybe not. According to the Psalmist, what God desires is a broken and contrite person, not…
Then Job responded, “How long will you torment me and crush me with words?” Job 19:1-2 NASB Crush – “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” Perhaps Job’s friends needed to listen to Peter. They came to “comfort” Job but they ended up breaking him to pieces with their words. …
