It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I may learn thy statutes.
6 sermons cite this verse
… when God wants to teach us something. And one of the many verses on this is Psalm 119, verse 71. Psalm 119, verse 71, here on the screen, says this. It was good for me to be afflicted so I could learn your truth. Okay, here's a true confession time. How many of you have learned some things in life through pain? Can I see your hands? Yeah, that's 100% of us. In fact, some things we only learn through pain. And David, who wrote the Lord as my shepherd, said it was good for me to be afflicted that I might learn your statutes. I've learned a lot of things through illnesses in my life. So sometimes God allows the illness for learning. okay the second way reason for illness is actually for death you say well that's not a very positive one well here's what I'm saying if every illness you had was healed you'd never go to heaven and neither would anybody else so there is a sickness unto death and the purpose is to end your life here so you can go on to the real life and the ever after you will only get the sickness unto death one time in your life. …
… up here on the screen, verse 71. David says, it was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. Notice, this is a problem that's come into his life for the purpose of education, not condemnation. The Bible says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's already been forgiven. But there is education that I might learn. It was good for me to be afflicted. What's an affliction? Well, there can be many. There can be an emotional affliction in your heart. It could be a relational affliction in your relationships. It could be a physical affliction in your body. You can get sick. This is not punishment. And David, looking back on it, goes, hey, it was a good thing that I actually was disciplined because I learned your statutes. Now the only way you're gonna learn the statutes is when you stop asking, why is this happening to me? And start asking, what do you want me to learn? …
… to the glories of Christ. Psalm 119, verse 71. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. there are things your people need to see that you will only see in the pressures and the hardships of the pastoral life. Now, I don't mean to glorify affliction or pressure. I believe in days off, brothers. I took them. I believe in the Sabbath principle. I believe in vacations, especially for the family's sake. I believe in sabbaticals. They all have their place in the process of perseverance and discovery and insight. What I'm saying is that in those other seasons, that's most of the time. You don't need to be bereft of insight. And I would venture to say, from my own experience, most of what I have seen in the Bible and delivered in my preaching for the good of others, most of it has come not in seasons of leisure, but in hours of pressured, often desperate preparation. Deadline after deadline after deadline, and what a strange word. Crazy strange name for something so life-giving. …
… But in his mercy, it wasn't ultimately to wipe out his people, but to purify them, to refine them, to make them into worshipers. That we might say with David in Psalm 119, it was good for me to be afflicted so I might learn your decrees. That's a hard one, isn't it? It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. I said this morning, and we know from the book of Job, that hard things in your life does not automatically mean that you've done something wrong. Jesus, no one had harder things in his life than Jesus, and no one was perfect except for Jesus. So it's not a one-to-one correspondence. correspondence. But here's surely what all of us should be asking in whatever affliction, whether it's discipline or whether it's a providential mercy from the Lord. Every time we have an affliction, it is an occasion that we might learn the decrees of God. What are you doing in my life in this affliction that is a mercy to me? …
… That I can't even tell you about Psalm 119 verse 71 says like this It is good for me that I've been afflicted That I might learn Your statues too fast It was good for me That I was afflicted That I might learn your statues I know why you're not shouting It's okay I'm going to say it until you get it It was good for me That I've been afflicted That I might learn your word Whenever you see the word statues in the Old Testament It's another word for the word of God. Let me say it again. It was good for me that I was afflicted because I was able to learn more about your word. I was able to learn more about who God is. It was good. Somebody ought to be able to look back over 2021 and testify. Some of this stuff was good for me. I learned how to pray this year. I learned how to be by myself this year. I learned how to go to therapy this year. …
… Before I was afflicted, I went astray. And then he said, it is good for me that I have been afflicted. Then I was thinking of that scripture over there in Hebrews where old Jacob, the patriarch, who was a shepherd himself, who got away from God. Do you remember how Jacob got away from God? He met God and had a wonderful experience with God, and then he got away from God. The Bible says that he wrestled with the Lord. Do you know what the Lord did? The Bible says the Lord put Jacob's thigh out of joint. Do you remember that? The Lord Himself wounded this man of God, and He broke this man of God. And all of the rest of his life, Jacob would walk leaning on a staff. And the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, when Jacob came to the end of his life, the Bible says, by faith Jacob worshipped. I think it's about verse 21, Hebrews 11 and verse 21. When he was dying, Jacob worshipped leaning on his staff. …