Affliction is Good for You

“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” -Psalm 119:71

Beloved Kinney,

Affliction is hard, but that doesn’t mean it’s always bad. In fact, it’s never ultimately bad,
if you’re a Christian. Why? Because God ordained our affliction for our good. That’s
hard to hear…especially when affliction is intense.

The psalmist of Psalm 119 experienced deep affliction. The specific kind was false
accusations. He says in v19, “The insolent smear me with lies.”

The affliction of slander is one of the worst. You feel out of control. Your reputation
seems to be in the hands of those who want to destroy it. You fear loss of relationship
as a result.

Have you been there? What affliction are you going through? There’s no possible good
that can come from it, right?

The words of the psalmist are shocking: “Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word.” When things were fine and peaceful, he was wandering from
the Lord, but affliction brought him back. Affliction has a unique way of causing us to be
desperate and dependent upon the Lord.

That’s why the psalmist says in v71, “It is good for me that I was afflicted.” Good? How
can it be good for you to be afflicted. Answer: “That I might learn your statutes.”

You don’t experientially trust God’s word and promises as deeply apart from affliction.
That’s why it’s good.

Would you ask the Lord to give you a deeper understanding and dependence on his word
because of your affliction? This is what you most need, even more than the removal of
the affliction.

Love,
Pastor Josh