It Is Good For Me That I Was Afflicted: Psalm 119:65-72

It Is Good For Me That I Was Afflicted

Psalm 119:65-72

Faith can make use of the waters of affliction to swim faster to Christ.

Thomas Watson

"It is good for me that I was afflicted" (119:71). What enables a man or woman to say this? Trouble, distress, affliction. These usually cause our shoulders to droop a bit more and our hearts to start complaining. How can we have a perspective that sees our affliction as good? In the hardships we face right now, can we see anything profitable? In Psalm 119:65-72, the psalmist shows us truth that can shape our view of affliction. He shows us God's good character, God's good Word, and God's good work. We will walk through these and see how the psalmist can conclude that his affliction was indeed good for him. With the eyes of faith, we too can look at our affliction as good.

Earlier in the psalms, it tells us that those who know God's name put their trust in Him (9:10). To know His name is to know His character. In this stanza of Psalm 119, the psalmist declares in verse 68, "You are good and do good." This is the bedrock of our souls. This must be the foundation upon which we build our lives. He is good. And He does what is good. What else about the character of God will help shape our view of our affliction? His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23-24)? His omniscience (Psalm 139:4)? His care (1 Peter 5:7)? His comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)? His wisdom (Romans 11:33)? The most difficult aspect of your suffering is the place where He will meet you with the sufficiency of Himself. The greatest point of our need highlights the magnificence of His abundance in meeting that need. The psalmist focused on the goodness of God. What do you need for your current situation? God Himself is the starting point to enable us to say, “It is good for me that I was afflicted.”

Next, the psalmist makes a couple of statements that reveal why he believed his affliction to be good for him. He said that before he was afflicted, he went astray, but now he keeps God's Word (119:67). Also, it was good for him to be afflicted that he might learn God's statutes (119:71). On the one hand, suffering has a way of revealing areas of our heart that must be penetrated with the truth. It can reveal idols we have harbored in our hearts. It can reveal sinful emotions we have continued to hold onto. These sinful ways do not honor the Lord, and He desires that we be holy, so He brings affliction into our lives to reveal to us things we could not see otherwise. On the other hand, suffering teaches us, by way of experience, truths we did not understand before. There is comfort that is ours which we would not have known if we had not suffered. There are beautiful and precious promises that we would not have proved true had we not walked this hard road. There is sufficient grace from God that can only be found in times of utter weakness and helplessness. There is a beholding of the beauty of God that comes when, through suffering, He becomes our all in all. To the psalmist, his affliction was good because he learned the way of obedience to God’s good Word, which he delighted in and was better to him than thousands of coins of gold and silver (119:70, 72). As we submit ourselves to what our suffering can teach us about how to live more unto the Lord, we will be able to say, “It is good for me that I was afflicted.”

Finally, the psalmist sees God’s good work even in hardship. He understands that the Lord had dealt well with him, even in affliction (119:65). The word "dealt" has the meaning of performing an action with a distinct purpose. "Well" has the idea of fruitful, useful, and profitable. God did not arbitrarily send affliction to the psalmist and He does not do so to us either. He has designed our affliction for His specific purposes in order to produce fruitfulness in us. Faced with hardship, the believer knows that God is making all things work for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). We see this poignantly in the life of Joseph. When his brothers sold him as a slave because they hated him, yet Joseph was able to say that it was not his brothers that had sent him to Egypt, but rather it was God who sent him there to preserve many lives. What they meant for evil, God meant for good (Genesis 50:20). In our current difficulty, He has dealt well with us according to His Word. "God is able to make us fruitful in the land of our suffering--the very point at which the pain is deepest" (Lutzer). Can we look at our affliction and ourselves and observe any area in which God is producing something useful in us? What fruit is He bearing in our lives specifically because of our affliction? The work that God is doing and the fruit He is producing are reasons for us to say, “It is good for me that I was afflicted.”

And in eternity, when all these former things have passed away, and all things have been made new; when our tears have been wiped away and our mourning replaced with indescribable joy; when He is rejoicing over us with singing and we are worshipping Christ our Lord with all the saints and angels; and when we know fully the eternal weight of glory which is ours produced by this momentary and light affliction we are experiencing today, we will with great joy and without hesitation be able to say, "It is good for me that I was afflicted. He indeed has dealt well with me, better than I could have ever imagined. My God is good and He has done what is good and has brought me into His eternal joy and rest. His Word proved true."

Let's pray through this section of Psalm 119 that we would have the eyes of faith to see the good God is accomplishing in our affliction.

119:65-66 You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.

Lord, I pray:

▫️You would help me to see the good ways You have dealt with me in this affliction. I know You are using this to produce perseverance, character, hope (Romans 5:4), and an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17). I desire to humble myself under Your mighty hand in this affliction and to trust Your wise dealings with me in ____________. Are there any good purposes I can see in this affliction? Can I recognize ways the Lord is strengthening my character through this time?

▫️You would teach me Your good judgment and discernment. There have been many times during this affliction that I have been confused and have needed Your wisdom. You promise to give wisdom to those who ask, so I am asking You now to give me wisdom concerning ___________ (James 1:5).

▫️Lord, I believe Your Word and I believe that You are accomplishing good in this situation; help my unbelief.

119:67-68 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.

Lord, I pray:

▫️You would search my heart. Show me ways that before this affliction I was not honoring You in my thoughts, words, or deeds. Show me Your way and help me to keep Your word. I know that if this affliction produces in me more holiness, then this affliction has been good for me, even though it has been painful.

▫️You are good. I thank You that I can rest in Your goodness. You do not do anything that is evil or tainted even slightly by evil motives. You desire only good for Your children. Thank You that You discipline me for my good, that I may be a partaker of Your holiness. It is Your love that has brought me ____________, help me to rest in Your love and goodness. Is there an attribute of God that I need to turn my attention to? Is there some truth about the Lord I am not trusting? Where in God's Word can I find the truth to counter my own feeble emotions and shape my thoughts?

119:69-70 The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law.

Lord, I pray:

▫️Affliction is made even harder when I must deal with the lies, slander, or hurtful words of others. Help me to keep Your precepts with my whole heart, regardless of what others are doing or saying to me. Keep me firmly planted in Your Word and Your way. Give me more grace to do good to those who are spitefully using me. Give me Your strength to not return evil for evil, but rather to bless those who curse me.

▫️Give me a deep delight in Your Word. Cause me to be refreshed and revived as I read and study Your Word. Let me see wonderful truths that meet me in this hard place. My affliction is good as it points me to You and Your sufficiency to meet me in my point of need.

119:71-72 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Lord, I pray:

▫️It is good for me that I was afflicted. At times, that is very hard to say. Help me to get that truth from my mind to my heart. What would You have me learn from this, Lord? Show me more of who You are. What is the Lord teaching me through this trial? What comfort is He bestowing upon me? What new joy is He producing in me?

▫️I want to love the law of Your mouth as the psalmist did, more than thousands of gold and silver pieces. I want it to be sweeter to me than honey (119:103). I want to see the treasures it holds for me. I want to see Your beauty (Psalm 27:4). This affliction is good for me if it produces in me more love for You, more love for Your Word, and more desire to see Your will be done.

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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