Deliverance From Sorrows (Verse 20)

Ps. 33:20. Many are the sorrows of the righteous, and from all of them the Lord will deliver them.

The final limit of God’s favor, to which the fear of God leads! He has already said that God sees them, hears them, is near them; now he concludes: from all their sorrows He will deliver them. Let there be many sorrows for the righteous on earth: such is the order of this life; but from all of them the Lord will deliver them. He did not say that the righteous will not be touched by sorrows, for that cannot be; on the contrary, for that very reason the righteous cannot escape sorrows—because they are righteous, as the Wise One says, that whoever approaches to serve the Lord must prepare his soul for trials (Sir. 21). He did not say so, but openly declared that many are the sorrows of the righteous; yet he added to it the comforting promise that from all of them the Lord will deliver them.

How will He deliver? In such a way that in all of them, however great they may be, He will preserve them whole, will not allow them to fall under their weight, will give them strength to endure and overcome them; the righteous will pass through these sorrows undefeated and come out of them as victors. The righteous man, animated by God’s favor, encouraged by His cover, and strengthened by His power, is led out by the Lord into battle with the adversities raised up against him by the enemies of righteousness—hostile forces, visible and invisible. The righteous man stands unshaken in his righteousness amidst all temptations, like a rock amid the sea, assailed by waves. It is not the rock that is broken but the waves that hurl themselves against it that are broken and fall back. So also in the struggle of the righteous: it is not the righteous who are broken, but all hostile forces that are shattered against the unshakeable firmness of their righteousness. It is precisely this deliverance that is promised to the righteous. Thus the Lord also foretold to the Apostles that they would have tribulation in the world; but in consolation immediately added: but be of good courage, for I have overcome the world (Jn 16:33). Do not be afraid! The tribulations of this world will do nothing to you. I have overcome the world; by this my conquering power you also will overcome and prevail over the world despite all its assaults upon you. Therefore the holy Apostles all suffered tribulation; but suffering, they confessed that though they suffer tribulation, they are not crushed thereby (2Cor. 4:8), and encouraged all, saying: God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1Cor. 10:13). To this Blessed Theodoret says: “although God allows the righteous to enter into struggle, He Himself assists them and shows them prevailing over the afflictions they encounter, strengthening and making firm their thoughts.”

Therefore, “if you ever see the righteous suffering in illness with injured limbs, abandoned by their own, in wounds, in dishonor, in utter want and deprivation of necessities; remember that this is how it should be, according to God’s wise ordering. Whoever says that sorrow is unbecoming to the righteous says the same as one who claims that a wrestler ought not to have an opponent. But will a wrestler who does not enter the contest have any reason to receive crowns?” (Basil the Great).

The deliverance of the righteous from sorrows—as in the preceding verse the saving of the humble in spirit—consists properly in their standing firm, under all the pressure of sorrows, in the order of righteous life and in faithfulness to the Lord’s commandments and the rules of faith. Whether their sorrows will cease in this life or will press upon them until death—this, in the eyes of the Lord as in the minds of the righteous themselves, carries no decisive weight. It happens that sorrows cease, either by their natural course or by a special action of God’s providence. But even if this does not occur, God’s deliverance and salvation nonetheless accompanies the righteous unceasingly; and out of the darkness of sorrows, through the shadow of death, it leads them to freedom and brings them into a life full of comfort, where alone such comfort is fitting in its true meaning and form. “Unrighteous people,” says Blessed Augustine, “have fewer sorrows, while the righteous suffer more. But the former, after few or no sorrows, will go to eternal torment from which they will never be delivered; while the righteous, after many sorrows, will enter into eternal rest, where no evil will ever touch them again.”