"Here again, the parallelism tells us something. He is nigh to save. His presence is salvation. Their misery is not nearer to them than their deliverer.
To their broken heart, the whole universe seems broken; to their desolate spirit, all creation seems desolate. Crushed beneath a sense of unworthiness, forlornness, helplessness, they dare not lift up their eyes to heaven, and they know that it is useless to lift them to anything less than heaven.
Irremediable sorrow seems their portion. But the Lord hastens to the place where they sit solitary."
— George Bowen (1816–1888) · The White Sadhu of Bombay"He is nigh to save. His presence is salvation."
— George Bowen · The nearness is the rescue. The presence does the work.✦ The Place Where They Sit Solitary
The brokenhearted soul is caught between two impossibilities: too unworthy to look up, too wise to look anywhere else. The only direction that could help is the one the heart feels disqualified to face. And it is precisely to that place that the Lord hastens. Not slowly. Not reluctantly. Hastens.
"He does not announce his coming by angelic precursors; he does not descend on a bright cloud; no visible glory, no audible sound attests his presence. But the eye of the broken-hearted sinner falls upon the eighteenth verse of the thirty-fourth Psalm, and beholds there the intimation of God's presence.
The earthquake of the heart has opened a way for faith; and faith has opened a way for God.
Formerly this word would have seemed like an engaging falsehood, a poetical fiction. But faith lets God be true; and places him also among those whose words are to be believed."
— George Bowen (1816–1888)✦ Brokenness as Opening
He comes quietly. No angelic precursors. No bright cloud. Just the Word — the eye falling on a verse, and finding God already there. The brokenness is not the end. It is the opening. The earthquake cracks the ground — and through the crack, faith enters. And through the door faith opens, God enters. James 1:2–4 again: the testing produces perseverance, and perseverance finishes its work.
"The earthquake of the heart has opened a way for faith; and faith has opened a way for God."
— George Bowen · The crack is the doorway"And if the Lord is nigh, then is all good nigh. When the Lord was with the first disciples, lacked they any thing? All our lost treasures are found again in him. All our bankrupt powers are found perfected in him. In his presence is fulness of joy."
— George Bowen (1816–1888)✦ The Mystery Revealed
Paul names the mystery hidden for generations and now revealed: the broken heart that dared not look up discovers it was included in the promise all along. Heirs together. Members together. Sharers together. The one who felt disqualified finds that the earthquake of the heart opened the very door through which the inheritance passes.
"We are in a season of testing and the Word is what gives us strength and confidence. I rejoice in the Lord always! The testing makes us alive in the Lord and we look to the future in hope."
His Presence Is Salvation
The Lord hastens to the place where the brokenhearted sit solitary. His nearness is the rescue. Their misery is not nearer to them than their deliverer.
The Earthquake
The breaking opens a way for faith. Faith opens a way for God. Before the earthquake, the verse was poetry. After, it is the only solid ground.
All Good Is Nigh
If the Lord is nigh, then all good is nigh. Lost treasures found. Bankrupt powers perfected. In His presence, fulness of joy. We were included all along.