December 16, 2019 -- Psalm 119:75 -- Lessons in the school of affliction

I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,

and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Psalm 119:75 English Standard Version

One of the challenges of reading Psalm 119, one verse at a time, is losing the sense of the overarching theme an entire octet of verses and therefore not seeing how they hang together. As I prepare these devotions I listen to podcasts of sermons by various preachers. Last night I was listening to the Rev. Steven Lawson’s fine sermon on this, the Yodh stanza. He calls it “How to Pray When In the Fire”. Interesting. He takes the entire stanza as a prayer offered by the psalm writer when he is in fiery affliction. And he sees it as the prayer of a mature and faithful believer.

Through-out this Psalm the writer is sorely tried and troubled, mocked and afflicted. Notice this, the author sees these afflictions as coming from the fountainhead of faithfulness—from the LORD Himself. Afflictions are rumble strips on the road that jar the driver to wakefulness and cause him to reorient himself squarely between the lines of good pavement. Hardships refine the soul and show the various ways in which a believer who claims to follow God is actually self-seeking or trying to do all things in his own strength.

Sure, we can claim obedience and devotion to our Great King when all things are going well, the bigger question—and the times the world around us pays closer attention—is whether or not we will follow Him with equal devotion and obedience when trials rise up in our lives? Job’s wife called out to Job: “Are you still faithful? Curse God and die!” What a common refrain that is! Yet the true picture of the believer’s mettle and the Father’s faithfulness is that God is revealed when we struggle.

The school of affliction teaches us the depths of Jesus’ magnificent devotion to our Father in heaven: He suffered all things and did not waver or fail in His obedience.

The school of affliction teaches us how much we actually try to carry out our duties in our own strength rather than seeking Him Whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

The school of affliction teaches us to cry out to the Spirit of the Living God Who resides deep within us. The Spirit hearing each sigh and marking each tear and brings the deepest woes and struggles of our heart to our Prayer Warrior King Jesus, Who is seated at the Right Hand of the Father. There Jesus speaks urgently and patiently in our behalf, bringing our needs to the Father.

The school of affliction reminds us Jesus was tempted and suffered in ways beyond our imagining. He was rejected by His family—they called Him crazy and wanted to take Him home. He was betrayed by one of His own group of twelve, His closest companions. Peter, the spokesmen for the disciples, denied Jesus several hours after claiming even if everyone else fell away, Peter would stand with Jesus! Jesus, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, when He walked on the earth had no place to lay His head—no home, no bank account, no retirement account. On and on it goes. Why did He endure this all? So that our every affliction, pain, grief and suffering would be redeemed. He is the King Who knows our sorrows intimately. And He takes the punishment in our place so that we can be presented to God the Holy without any spot of sin or stain of wickedness. All of it is purged and cleansed.

The school of affliction shows us the tremendous power of the Spirit of God to hold us in the place of blessing and keep us from waywardness.

The school of affliction brings up the waves of sin and bitterness and anger and rebellion that lurk in the recesses of our hearts and minds and as each arises the Spirit conquers such anew so that we will be made holy. It is because we belong to God—Father, Son and Spirit, that we will endure such struggles. Those who hate God will not face temptations and trials such as we have because they are not warring to bring their flesh and will, mind and lives into faithful obedience to righteous rules of the LORD.

Do not let the fact you are suffering lead you conclude God has forgotten you. Know this, you are being refined and purified for HIs Holy Presence. Do not doubt you are His workmanship, beautiful and precious to Him and His glory is being revealed in all you endure.

Spirit of God, strength of the believer in the days of affliction, help us in the ways we don’t even know how to pray for as we suffer. Jesus, how great is the love You demonstrated as You walked on this earth. In our own afflictions we begin to grasp just the smallest splinter of all You endured so that we would be brought to glory. Father, faithful source of every good, in the struggles of this day remind us that we cannot fall from the grip of Your grace. Blessed are You, Triune God. Great are Your ways and blessed is the road You give us to travel. With the psalmist we pray: “Give us understanding that we may learn Your commandments.” Amen.