I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Psalm 119:75
The simple lesson from this verse is that knowing and trusting God's faithfulness in the midst of suffering is easier if you understand and trust God's purpose for you.
It's seldom that simple, though.
This verse, like many others in God's Word, requires a bigger concept of God and His purposes than many Christians possess. In 21st century America we like to have everything outlined neatly, with an abundance of comforting and inspiring catch phrases and memes.
But the God we encounter in His scriptures is not bound by outlines or catch phrases. Life on the 1 road is seldom neat and orderly. The scriptures meant to be our guide are often unsettling and even disturbing.
We're so accustomed to packaging things in pleasant wrapping, we tend to over-sentimentalize a verse like this. We gloss right over the startling paradigm shift of the second half of the verse.
There's not room here to list them all. I recommend you check out the appendixes in Joni Eareckson Tada's fantastic book, When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty. In the back of the book she includes a long list of verses that clearly say God causes suffering.
If you're going to trust, as David does, that His laws - as represented by His scriptures - are righteous, then you're going to have work on stretching your mind to encompass an understanding of God as one who actually causes suffering.
Joni's book also includes a lengthy list of scriptures that explain God's many and varied purposes for suffering.
The list in her book goes on and on. That's a good thing.
The only way you're ever going to fully incorporate a God who afflicts into your mental framework of faith is to also embrace Him as the God who is always faithful to His greater purpose for you and for all the world and all of history.
Which means you've also got to come around to a grand vision of your own place in His plan. He did not send His Son to die for you just so you could settle into a comfortable life of church-going and passive piety. He's got plans for you and to prepare you for what's coming He may put you through some tough times.
It's the big picture of a big God with a big purpose that will enable you to persevere through the dangerous adventure of saying Yes to the part He's assigned you.
It's seldom that simple, though.
This verse, like many others in God's Word, requires a bigger concept of God and His purposes than many Christians possess. In 21st century America we like to have everything outlined neatly, with an abundance of comforting and inspiring catch phrases and memes.
But the God we encounter in His scriptures is not bound by outlines or catch phrases. Life on the 1 road is seldom neat and orderly. The scriptures meant to be our guide are often unsettling and even disturbing.
We're so accustomed to packaging things in pleasant wrapping, we tend to over-sentimentalize a verse like this. We gloss right over the startling paradigm shift of the second half of the verse.
in faithfulness you have afflicted meThat may actually be too much of the verse still for some people, who will fixate on God's faithfulness and blur out the blunt truth that follows.
you have afflicted me.Don't rearrange the words in your mind. It doesn't say you have allowed me to be afflicted. God doesn't want to be let off the hook that easily. He's the one who inspired David to write these words. He wants it said clear and to the point.
you have afflicted me.Is David simply personifying the affliction, tagging God as the source even though he knows very well God doesn't actually afflict anyone? You might convince yourself of that, if it weren't for the dozens of other scriptures that declare with similar blunt plainness that God is the author and cause of much affliction.
There's not room here to list them all. I recommend you check out the appendixes in Joni Eareckson Tada's fantastic book, When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty. In the back of the book she includes a long list of verses that clearly say God causes suffering.
If you're going to trust, as David does, that His laws - as represented by His scriptures - are righteous, then you're going to have work on stretching your mind to encompass an understanding of God as one who actually causes suffering.
Joni's book also includes a lengthy list of scriptures that explain God's many and varied purposes for suffering.
- Suffering is used to increase our awareness of the sustaining power of God to whom we owe our sustenance (Psalm 68:19).
- God uses suffering to refine, perfect, strengthen, and keep us from falling (Psalm 66:8-9; Hebrews 2:10).
- Suffering allows the life of Christ to be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Corinthians 4:7-11).
The list in her book goes on and on. That's a good thing.
The only way you're ever going to fully incorporate a God who afflicts into your mental framework of faith is to also embrace Him as the God who is always faithful to His greater purpose for you and for all the world and all of history.
Which means you've also got to come around to a grand vision of your own place in His plan. He did not send His Son to die for you just so you could settle into a comfortable life of church-going and passive piety. He's got plans for you and to prepare you for what's coming He may put you through some tough times.
It's the big picture of a big God with a big purpose that will enable you to persevere through the dangerous adventure of saying Yes to the part He's assigned you.
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