Psalm 119:81-96
Psalm 119, Day 6, passing the halfway point on this Psalm! We had a discussion in Freedom Road yesterday on a phrase from the Serenity Prayer, “…accepting hardship as a pathway to peace…”. I had recalled Ps. 119:71 from yesterday’s reading: It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes. So we talked about hardships and affliction, asking (in part) if there truly is gain from the difficulties that we encounter.
A good discussion yesterday, but applicable to today’s reading also where we again see “affliction”, today in Ps. 119:92. But that’s only the word “affliction”. The psalmist in today’s reading spends half of his verses in today’s first stanza ( Ps. 119:84-87) discussing his persecutors. This is not David writing/singing a lament. This is probably a post-exile priest or Levite hundreds of years later crying out to the Lord; he is frustrated at his enemies attacking him, even to the point of near-death (v. 87). Yet he remains steadfast in seeking God, expressing his continuing trust and, in particular, asking for deliverance.
That’s a lesson for us today in the face of our difficulties – continuing to trust and asking for deliverance. Of the two, I am certain that continuing to trust is the more important. Whatever is out there, we need to continue to hold on to our faith. We need to really mean it when we say the words that we pray so often, “Not my will, but Your will be done…”. For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (II Corinthians 4:17-18)
Hear, hear!
Contrary to what you might hear from purveyors of any “prosperity gospel”, we can all expect some level of affliction and suffering. Some of that affliction may be discipline from the Lord, intended to keep us from turning astray from His path. (Ps. 119:67) Some difficulties may be given to us in order that we might better sympathize with the difficulties of others and offer better comfort to them. (II Cor. 1:3,4) Some sufferings may be opportunities for us to share in Christ’s sufferings, that we might become more like Him. (Phil. 3:10) In all cases, as Fred said, we are called to trust in our loving Father God, Who is good beyond measure and always does what is best for us.