Psalm 34:18

18 The Lord is nigh [to] them that be of troubled heart; and he shall save meek men in spirit. (The Lord is near to those who have a troubled heart; and he saveth those whose spirit is meek, or is humble.)

Psalm 34:18 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 34:18

The Lord [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart
Who are pressed and bore down with afflictions, by the sorrow of heart under which their spirits are broken, ( Proverbs 15:13 ) ; or with a sense of sin, and sorrow for it, for which their hearts smite them, and they are wounded by it, and broken with it: to these the Lord is "nigh"; not in a general way only, as he is to all men, being God omnipresent, but in a special manner; he comes and manifests himself to them in a gracious way, pours in the oil and wine of his love, and binds up their broken hearts; yea, comes and dwells with them: he does not pass by them and neglect them, much less make the breach worse; he does not break the bruised reeds, but he heals their breaches;

and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit;
not in a legal, but in an evangelical way; who are humbled under a sense of sin, and melted down in true repentance, under a view of the love and grace of God; and are poor and mean in their own eyes: to these the Lord has respect; the sacrifices of a broken and contrite spirit are not despised by him, but accepted through faith in Christ; and such he saves with an everlasting salvation in him.

Psalm 34:18 In-Context

16 But the cheer of the Lord is on men doing evils; that he lose the mind of them from [the] earth. (But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil; and he shall blot out the memory of them from off the earth.)

17 Just men cried [The rightwise cried], and the Lord heard them; and delivered them from all their tribulations (and he rescued, or saved, them from all their troubles).

18 The Lord is nigh [to] them that be of troubled heart; and he shall save meek men in spirit. (The Lord is near to those who have a troubled heart; and he saveth those whose spirit is meek, or is humble.)

19 Many tribulations be of just men; and the Lord shall deliver them from all these. (Many troubles be to the righteous; but the Lord shall rescue, or save, them out of all of them.)

20 The Lord keepeth all the bones of them; one of those shall not be broken. (The Lord guardeth, or keepeth safe, all their bones; not one of them shall be broken.)