About this sermon
“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” The psalmist can say this because he knows he needs to learn, and affliction drives him to God’s Word. Believers pursue the day when they can say the same, trusting the Savior who makes these words true in their lives.
Sermon transcript
Please be seated. Once again, it’s good to be with you this evening to share in God’s Word together, and this evening I’m going to ask you to join me in Psalm 119. I’m going to read just one verse from Psalm 119, verse 71. Psalm 119, verse 71. I forgot to ask until 10 minutes ago what version of the Bible you use here, and so my reading will be of this one verse from the ESV. You know, sometimes you read the Bible and you say, yes. Sometimes you read the Bible and you say, what? This is a what verse? Psalm 119, 71.
It is good for me that I was afflicted. that I might learn your statutes. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we affirm with Paul that all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable. So make it profitable to teach us, to reprove us, to correct us, to train us in righteousness, that we may be competent, equipped for every good work for your glory and our good. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
A few weeks ago, sadly, we all learned the name of a young man named Otto Warmbier. He was the college student, you might remember, who died after being released from captivity in North Korea. Hearing his story reminded me of a book that my wife and I actually read together on the road about a year ago by a man named Kenneth Bae called Not Forgotten. Kenneth Bae was an American who led prayer teams into North Korea, and he was arrested in North Korea, tried, and sentenced to a labor camp for 15 years. Later, he was released in late 2014.
Now he was not treated quite as badly as Otto Warmbier apparently was treated, but he was questioned relentlessly. He was convicted unjustly. He was exposed relentlessly to North Korean propaganda. He was malnourished. He was forced to work in a labor camp, all without ever knowing if he would be freed at all.
When you read the story of Kenneth Bey, you realize that he suffered, in the words of the psalmist, affliction. But he’s not alone, is he? We live in a fallen world, and we all suffer affliction. Sometimes it’s because of our sin. Sometimes it’s because of the sins of others against us. Sometimes it’s for reasons that we can’t even begin to grasp. Sometimes we suffer as Christians like everybody else does, and sometimes we suffer for our faith in Christ. The writer of Psalm 119 has suffered affliction. He reflects on it and he writes, it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
And our first reaction to that verse might be, what? How can he say that? How could a man like Kenneth Bae say that? How can you say that? This evening, what I want to do is look at two questions. What is he saying? And why is he saying this? And that will lead us to a third question. Can you say this? So what’s he saying? We learn very little about his affliction in this passage.
If you go back to verse 69, we do learn though, he says, the insolent smear me with lies. These are rude. These are disrespectful. These are obnoxious people who have spread some sort of untruth about this man. This could be David. This could be David referring to challenges from before his kingship, when Saul was chasing him, or it could be David referring to challenges after he became king, when there were challenges from people like his own son, Absalom. We don’t know for sure, but we know the lies have been hurtful. We know the liars have threatened his rule, and they have threatened his life. So what is he saying? What is he saying about what has happened to him? He’s not saying the affliction was good. He’s not saying that. Again, why do we have affliction? Why do we suffer?
The Bible’s answer is clear. It’s because of sin. Sin has entered the world, suffering has ensued, and we all suffer affliction. That’s what we understand as we go back to Genesis 3 and read what happens after the fall. We often refer to that as the curses, but it’s also a series, really, isn’t it, of warnings about what life is going to be like in this world.
God speaks a warning to the serpent. He says, there’s going to be conflict between you and the woman’s offspring. We’re going to suffer spiritual affliction. God speaks a warning to the woman, you’re going to have pain in childbirth, you’re going to have conflict with your husband, there’s going to be relational affliction. God speaks a warning to the man, your toil will be painful, it will be frustrating, there’s going to be vocational affliction. And then God says physical death will come, which is the greatest affliction of this life.
So we live in a world of sin, and there is affliction. And it is not good. One of my seminary professors, Jerem Barz, once wrote, we will never, no matter how much we search or however long we reflect, find a sensible or adequate explanation or excuse for sin. Sin, by its very nature, is against the structure of the universe, and therefore we cannot make sense of it. Sin is against the character of God, the Creator of all things. Sin is opposed to the way God designed the universe to be. Sin is contrary to the life God created us to live. And it’s contrary to our human nature as those made to be like God. We live in a world of affliction, and that affliction is not good. In and of itself, we never call affliction good. And so the writer is not saying the affliction is good. He’s also not saying the affliction feels good.
He’s not saying that. C.S. Lewis. after his wife suffered and died from cancer reflected in this way. He said, it doesn’t really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist chair or let your hands lie in your lap. The drill drills on. We know how that feels. Sometimes people you see, sometimes even Christians have a way almost of romanticizing suffering. They see something noble about it. They see something heroic about it. They almost seem drawn to it. There have been times when I’ve seen people reflect on the suffering of Christians, and I almost feel like people are jealous that the sufferer got to suffer in this way. Well, no. Affliction is affliction.
It is not good, and it does not feel good. When your husband or your wife attacks you or abuses you for your faith, It’s painful, it doesn’t feel good in any way. When you lie awake at 3 a.m. wondering what’s gone wrong with your rebellious child, it’s painful, it doesn’t feel good in any way. When you stare at the wall while those chemotherapy drugs drip into you and your nausea and your exhaustion become all-consuming, it’s painful, it doesn’t feel good in any way. When you pour 30 years of your life into a company and you are unceremoniously dumped, it doesn’t feel good in any way. When you stand over the grave of a friend who is stuck closer than a brother, it doesn’t feel good in any way.
There’s no romance here. There’s no nobility here. There’s no heroism here. There is a harsh reality of affliction. Affliction that is not good. Affliction that does not feel good. The writer of the psalm here is not saying the affliction is good. He is not saying the affliction feels good.
But what he is saying is that the affliction is good for me. The affliction is good for me somehow. In some mysterious yet marvelous way, the writer says, it is good for me. That’s what he says. He said, it is good for me that I was afflicted somehow. Out of bad, good has come. Out of evil, righteousness has occurred. Out of pain, joy has arrived.
As the writer writes, he has been able to arrive at the place of saying that. You know, it took me several years, but I’ve finally given in. And now when I drive someplace, I did it tonight. I plug in my Apple Maps or my Google Maps. I find my way when I don’t know my way. It’s really neat, isn’t it?
This is where you want to go. This is how you get there. This is how long it’ll take to get there. This is how far you have to go to get there. When you suffer affliction, this is the map. This is the journey. This is where you want to go. You want to be able to say, it is good for me that I was afflicted. This affliction was good for me.
Now look, he’s looking back. We all know that it’s hard to see this in the midst of the affliction. But he’s been able to reflect on the road he’s traveled. He’s been able to reflect on the distance he has come. And he’s able to say, it is good for me that I was afflicted. Where are you on that road?
Are you still hurt by the way someone you loved has treated you? Are you still in physical pain from a debilitating condition? Are you still being hated because you love Jesus? Are you struggling to see or to say what the writer is saying here? That’s the destination you’re seeking. That’s what you want to be able to say, even through tears, maybe, even as you declare the reality and the pain of the affliction, you want to be able to say, it is good for me that I was afflicted. So how do you get there? Well, that leads to the second question. Why is he saying this? It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. You see, if we look at the second half of the verse, we discover why he can utter these words. First of all, he knows he needs to learn. He knows he needs to learn.
What’s Psalm 119 about? The longest chapter in the Bible. It’s about God’s truth. It’s about God’s law. It’s about what God has revealed in the Bible. He uses words like commands and precepts and statutes. God’s law guides God’s people into God’s way. It was true then, it is true now. You say, well, we’re saved by grace, not by following the law. That’s true, but the law is still a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
And the Christian life is a journey of learning more and more about God’s law, living more and more in God’s ways. That’s what we call sanctification, that lifelong process of growing more and more like Jesus Christ, putting off those things that are sinful, putting on those things that are honoring to God. That’s, if you are a believer in Jesus, what you want. You want to consistently, even constantly, learn what God wants you to learn in your life about following His wills and ways. He’s crafting you. He’s shaping you. He’s teaching you.
Reminded of an old story from Billy Graham. talked about a friend who had lived through the Great Depression. And during the Great Depression, this man walked down the street one day and he saw some workmen working on the upper part of a church. And there was a triangular piece of stone that one man was on the ground working on. And the man walking down the street said to this worker, what are you going to do with that? And the man looked up and he said, you see that little opening up near the top? I’m shaping this down here so it will fit in up there.
Graham says his friend realized that God was shaping him for heaven down here through the ordeal he was going through. That’s what God does to us and for us. That’s the heart that the writer of the psalmist wants us to cultivate, an understanding that God is shaping us through the things we learn.
Again, why are we afflicted? Sometimes it’s sin in our lives. Sometimes it’s sin against us. Sometimes we don’t understand why we’re afflicted. In every case, you discover good in the affliction. when you see how God would teach you more and more of His ways through it. That’s the point of the writer to the Hebrews, isn’t it? In Hebrews 12, he says God is our Father who disciplines us. Why does He do that? Is He mean? Is He cruel? Is He vindictive? Is there no rhyme or reason to it?
No. The writer says He disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Yes, it is painful, but the pain leads to a gain. You are trained in righteousness. You yield more of the fruit of righteousness in your life.
That’s what you want. That’s what God gives. And so you can say, it is good. One example of this. Let’s say you’re in a job and you’ve got a supervisor who has it out for you. You’re criticized, you’re hassled, you’re inconvenienced, you’re treated unfairly. Maybe it’s because they know you’re a Christian. Maybe it’s just because they’re mean to everybody. You don’t know why. They’re just mean. Maybe you have no idea what’s going on.
And finally, you’re fired. And you reflect. Yeah, your supervisor was wrong, but you weren’t faultless. You responded to evil with evil. You gossiped. You undermined the work of that supervisor. You held on to bitterness. And what do you do? You learn. And you get another job. And you’re better able to honor God there.
Was the affliction good? No. Did the affliction feel good? No. But it was good for you because you learned more of how to follow God’s will and ways. Verse 72, the next verse says, the law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
The writer learns. But there’s a second reason why he says this. He knows he needs to learn, but he also knows he needs to love. You see, so far, really what we’ve done is rather intellectual and analytical. You know, I need to know the law. I need to execute the purposes of the law. Okay.
But the writer doesn’t just have an intellectual need here. He doesn’t need to just have some sort of intellectual understanding of why God might have brought this into his life. He needs some relational help, too. All through the psalm, focuses on the truth he wants to follow, but it’s not some abstract truth dropped from on high by some nameless, mysterious force.
It’s the law of the Lord. It is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes. You, God. You, the God of my creation. You, the God of my salvation. From my womb to this day, you’ve blessed me. You’ve helped me. You’ve given me mercy and grace. You’ve forgiven my sins. You’ve given me new life. I don’t hate you anymore. I love you now. You see, the writer enjoyed a relationship with God.
And he was waiting for the fullness of that relationship that would be revealed only in Christ. Who said, I’m the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. Law is law, but what does the law express? It expresses God’s love for his people. The goal is not just conformity, it’s communion. He wants you to know His ways. He wants you to love Him more. And that is ours in Christ. In days of affliction, Jesus will mysteriously but marvelously enable you to know Him better and love Him more.
This is what Kenneth Bay said after being released from North Korea. As I look back a year later, I realized that in North Korea, I learned God’s faithfulness, experienced his grace and witnessed his compassion in ways I had never imagined before. When I was weak, he was strong. He kept his word and his word was absolutely binding. As he promised, he never left me nor forsook me. Although I had moments when I was depressed and had lost hope, and I sometimes felt abandoned and forgotten by the world, God was there. Even when I doubted God’s promises, He was faithful. When I needed it most, He reminded me He was there.
He spoke through scriptures and supernatural encounters. He truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yes, Kenneth Bay needed to learn some things, but he also needed to learn how to love Christ more. He needed to love God better. He needed to know the love of God better. And so with that perspective, he could say, it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
And so the last question. Can you say this? For just a moment, I want you to hold in your mind and heart the deepest and hardest affliction you’ve ever faced. Maybe for you it’s some sort of devastating, debilitating depression. Maybe you’ve buried a young child. Maybe you know the spitting hatred of a person who despises your faith. Maybe you faced physical abuse or emotional abuse or sexual abuse. Maybe you’ve been humiliated as you’ve left a job you’ve loved. Maybe you live even today with unrelenting physical pain.
Where are you on the road? I know it’s a journey. When you’re in the middle of a journey, these can be very hard words for you to say, but God wants you to get there. He’ll help you to get there. You pray for this perspective. You pursue this perspective. Sooner or later, you realize you have learned more about God’s ways. You have been enabled to love him more.
The affliction, again, does not feel good. The affliction is not good, but you see God’s amazing grace and somehow using it for good. Sometimes I know it’s three steps forward, two steps back. Sometimes it’s two steps forward, three steps back. But you journey on. You journey on asking God for the grace to be able to say someday, it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
You know where I need my map sap the most? Right here in Western Pennsylvania. Because you guys know Western Pennsylvania. You got to go east to go west. You got to go north to go south, right? You’re not always sure you’re on the right road. But if you’re in Christ, you’re on the right road. You might feel like you’re curling around in different directions.
So you pray for God’s grace, for God’s mercy, for God’s help, for God’s peace, for God’s perspective. You go to one another, you go to other godly people to help you as you deal with the afflictions you face. And more and more you discover how God has used and is using and will use affliction to enable you to learn and to love.
So my encouragement to you this evening is pursue it. Pursue it. Pursue the day when you can fully and finally say, it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Would you pray for me and with me? Oh Lord, I need this. We all do. Take these few words from your word, bind them upon our hearts, make them true in our lives, that we may glorify you as we testify to your grace. Thank you for them and for the Savior who ensures that they can and will be true. We pursue it by your mercy. We pursue it with your help. Meet us in these things. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand together then and respond to God’s word with the words of hymn 444. Father, I know that all my life, hymn 444. Let’s stand and sing.
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