Learning DAILY

 

Psalm 119:67, Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. 

Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.

Psalm 119:75, I know O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. 

Psalm 119 is a series of thoughts about God’s Word.  Rick Renner wrote in his book, Sparkling Gems from the Greek, that the Bible “contains the very life, essence, energy, and dynamism of God Himself.  If you’ll get hungry for more of God and determine to meditate on this truth long enough to tap into it, God Himself will come pouring out of the Bible into your life and situation.  The pneuma (the powerful force of God) held inside the Word will blow mightily upon you and upon the situations that surrounds you – and when that happens, everything will change.” 

I use this as in introduction to answer the question why God sometimes afflicts His people.  There are probably more reason for this that Psalm 119 addresses but the verses above seem to give three particular reasons for us to look at.  I believe God allows us to experience hardships and difficulties to draw us into His word and to order a closer walk with Him.  Proverbs 3:11-12 address this, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction.  For whom the Lord loves he corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”

The first reason God chastens or afflicts His people is to get us back to where we belong.  God’s people get off the straight and narrow road by looking to the right and left.  That means people get their eyes off of Jesus and the walk He desires from each of them.  When we look to what others have, compare ourselves to others and desire to be like them we usually need to be brought back to what God desires for us; that is to be content and thankful for what we have.  Deception can also move is in an incorrect direction that would be harmful to us.  God spoke to Israel so many times through His prophets regarding sin.  Yet they did not listen and eventually He sent them into seventy years of exile.  Might God be chastening this country today for ignoring His warnings about the sins we allow to flourish? 

Psalm 119:71 speaks to the psalmist being taught important life lessons in order to teach others.  There are many instances I have had to go through in order to be able to teach others lesson that might help them avoid the mistakes I did.  To tell about the consequences of sin because of experience becomes much more effective than textbook explanations that are shared.  Telling another person about accepting one’s teaching without making sure it lines up with God’s Word is easier when one has gone through the experience being fooled by someone’s nice words. 

The last thought comes from Psalm 119:75.  When God afflicts or disciplines someone it is always in faithfulness.  God does not discipline us to hurt us but to help us; what He does is for our own good.  That is significant and important for every Christian to know.  No matter what the discipline, how long it lasted, how difficult it was to endure, there is no doubt that it was for your good.

The discipline from the Lord, for whatever the reason might have been, did not come by chance but because the Lord loves you and wants the best for you.  It was because He saw a good reason to correct the direction you were going, saw some evil that needed to be checked, or a lesson that needed to be learned to help someone in the future.  The next time you are under the chastening of the Lord, rejoice that He loves you so much that He will discipline you in order for you to walk more closely with Him.

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