Day 1012: Troubles that do us good - Psalm 119 vs 65- 72
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.
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.
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.
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. Psalm 119:65-72 English Standard Version
This part of Psalm 119 starts with the writer acknowledging that God had dealt well with him, just as His word had promised. But did you spot a word which he then repeats twice, and which implies that God's ‘dealing well’ with him didn't mean life always went smoothly?
He speaks of a time, perhaps even a few times, when he experienced affliction. That's a strong word which means suffering and sorrow. He doesn't tell us exactly what these had been, but perhaps his words in vs 69-70 suggest that they’d been brought about by people who had viciously attacked him with slander and lies. They sought to destroy his character and reputation, even though he'd been earnestly trying to follow God with all his heart. But what’s the amazing thing he concludes concerning those afflictions? (vs 71-72)
He sees how they actually turned out for his benefit! They drove him closer to the Lord, and reminded him how God's words are worth more than all other treasures. That's how King David also spoke of God's words in Psalm 19. He said: “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold.” (Psalm 19:9-10). Can we say that of God's word? Is it indeed more precious to us than gold?
What is a big reason the writer gives as to why he regarded the afflictions, which God had allowed him to go through, to be a good thing, and to say that God had 'dealt well' with him? (vs 67-68)
Because, up to then, he had been drifting from God's word and path. He was a follower of the Lord, but even such people can go astray. Jesus warned His disciples that some people hear God's word “but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22) It's very possible for a follower of Christ to be sidetracked by things that are wrong, or to be so busy in life that we wander off the path we are meant to be walking. But such is God's love that He will even use afflictions to turn us back to Himself.
There's a good example of this in Psalm 107, which says: “Some people sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So He bowed their hearts down with hard labour; they fell down, with none to help.” That may've been a real prison they were in, or a figure of speech to describe a state of helplessness and sorrow. They were suffering because they'd sidelined God and rejected His words. What happened?
The writer of that Psalm says: “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man!” (Psalm 107:10-15)
Troubles in life can drive people from God, or to God. The Christian's joy is that we can say what the writer of Psalm 119 said earlier in vs 50. He wrote: “This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.” Psalm 34:18-19 is one such promise. It says: “The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” This is why true believers can say of God: “You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word.”