Psalm 34:17-18 Now Available feat. New Verses Artist Aryn Michelle

Jan 30

Psalm 34:17-18 is now available on all streaming platforms!

THE VERSE

[17] When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.

Have you ever needed help? Like really bad and were unsure what to do? Before he was king, David found himself in a predicament detailed in 1 Samuel 21 where he was in desperate need of help. He was (per usual) running from the evil-spirit afflicted and jealous King Saul. As David was fleeing, he initially thought he found refuge in the Philistine city of Gath but quickly realized that he was far from being safe and needed to get out ASAP before things took a turn for the worse for him. Through a bizarre turn of events, David made it out alive of Gath. Psalm 34 offers us insight into some of David’s prayers following the unfolding of events in Gath and celebrates God’s deliverance of him in what could have been his demise.

In verse 17 of this psalm, David reminds us that when the righteous (i.e. the faithful, those who rely on and trust in God) cry for help, God hears. Akin to hearing Israel’s corporate cries for deliverance (Exodus 2:23-24), He also hears our individual cries for help like He did for David! This reality of God’s attentive ear is fodder for prayer. May our hearts and mouths be ever in communication with the God whose ear and heart are ever open to us. Not only does God hear, but He delivers! This deliverance, we’re told, is complete: “out of all their troubles.” Not a couple troubles; there’s no cap on the troubles or limit to His delivering power. There’s never a trouble that God is stumped or overwhelmed by. Spurgeon commented:

“No net of trouble can so hold us that the Lord cannot free us. Our afflictions may be numerous and complicated, but prayer can set us free from them all, for the Lord will show himself strong on our behalf.”

While we can’t be sure when or how God will deliver us (sometimes He delivers us from troubles while at other times He comes to us in them but doesn’t deliver us from them instantly), we bank on this truth: God’s deliverance is coming and in its right time, will be thoroughly complete.

In verse 18, David details some of how this deliverance happens… God draws near. We often misassociate times of trouble with God’s absence or nearness. However, these times of trouble can be some of the times of greatest intimacy because we realize the depth of our need and our inability to save or deliver ourselves. Are you brokenhearted? Cry out to God for deliverance but also the eyes to see God’s nearness until that deliverance is complete! Are you crushed in spirit? Know that salvation is near to you… Let these truths and in a sense, David’s beatitudes bring great comfort for your heart but also fuel for prayer:

Blessed are the brokenhearted for theirs is the nearness of the Lord.

Blessed are the crushed in spirit for theirs is the salvation of the Lord.

The Song & The Artist

Aryn Michelle is an eclectic, emotive singer/songwriter & recording artist from Dallas, TX. While studying songwriting at the Berklee College of Music she was awarded the Scott Benson Award for songwriting and chosen to be in an exclusive group of students to submit a song for consideration by Paul Simon. Her album, The Realest Thing, was named one of Kevin Davis’s TOP 10 Albums of the Year for New Release Today and her latest single releases from her Pariah project have won awards at The Great American Song Contest & WorshipReady.

Was there anything that stood out to you about this verse as you worked on it?

The certainty in the text about how God will respond to those who are crying for help. There is no "could" or "maybe." The text says the Lord hears and delivers the righteous crying for help. The Lord IS near to the brokenhearted. No ifs, ands or buts. I began with the piano melody when I was writing this song. I was trying to find something that felt brokenhearted but not hopeless. Contemplative and honest in its suffering, but at the same time retained a sense of beauty and hope in the midst of pain.

Anything else you’d like to add?

A late addition to the arrangement was the cacophony of background vocals in the final B section. We felt like the song was missing something and it needed a "building" element. So I decided to layer in lots and lots of additional vocals in hopes to illustrate how so many of us find ourselves seasons of crying for help to the Lord. That we all at some point experience suffering and brokenheartedness and that we can collectively, and not just individually, cry out to God.