"It was good for me to be afflicted..."

"It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes."  -Psalm 119:71

This thought doesn't jive in our culture at all.

When things are going well, it's easy to trust in ourselves and forget about the Lord.
When things aren't going so well, we learn to trust and follow the Lord and His Word.

Why is it good that we go through affliction so that we can learn God's Word?  Because, "The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." (Ps. 119:72)

Have you ever thought about that before?  The thought that God's Word is better to us than anything else on this planet?  Specifically mentioned here are riches - God's Word is better to us and for us than all of the riches in the world.  David would have known that quite well being King.  He would also have understood that God's Word is better to him than people because he knew what it meant to be betrayed and/or let down by those close to him - King Saul and his own son Absalom to name a couple.

There was something further that David and others understood about God's Word - "I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me." (Ps. 119:75)  God had allowed the affliction that was spoken of, and apparently it was affliction that was pretty devastating.  As you read on in Psalm 119, you find that the writer dealt with very depressing thoughts in his affliction, praying to God and asking Him how much longer this was going to go on in his life?  When would God comfort him?   But through it all, God was showing Himself to be faithful to His Word.  How?

At the end of the Lamed (Ps. 119:89-96), we are given these thoughts: "Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction." (vs.92)  He would have given up all hope and died had it not been for the hope in the promises found in God's Word - literally "If Your Word had not been my (sha'shua' - the object of my delight), I would have ('abad - died/perished/been destroyed)."  

How can he have such confidence in such trying times?  How can he simply trust and hope in God's Word without anything else and make it through all this?  "Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven.  Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides." (Ps. 119:89-90)  What God has said will come to pass (and much of it already has).  Everything God has said would happen has and the ultimate picture of that was displayed in Christ.  God is beyond trustworthy.  His Word is literally "settled" (set; erected) in heaven.  His Word will not be defeated, altered, destroyed, or changed.

So what it comes down to for the psalter here, and for us, in times of affliction is this: Hope and trust in who God is and in what His Word says.  We sing a hymn in many of our churches entitled "Standing on the Promises."  Let's take that to heart and live it out each day, regardless of the various "afflictions" we may face - because of all the promises in God's settled Word - the greatest of them all is that no matter what happens to us in this cursed world, Jesus saves and protects the souls of those who repent and put their faith in Him.  Whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life.  What a promise!

P.S. - And it was also good for Jesus to be afflicted on our behalf because in His affliction He purchased our salvation.

"It was good for me to be afflicted..."