65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
Affliction is God’s teaching tool to train us in His commandments.
Even when we experience severe afflictions, we are still captured by the conviction that “God is good,” and nothing can dislodge this conviction from our hearts. This proposition is of the very highest order of truthfulness. In fact, this settled fact, that God is good, is of the greatest comfort to us in the furnace of trial. It renders purpose to our afflictions.
Verse 65-66.
God deals well with us because of His covenant promises in His Word. He does not arbitrarily save His people outside of the promises and contractual agreements He has laid out in His Word. A husband is kind to his wife and provides special attention to her because of the covenant promises he made years earlier. He does not offer the same benefits to every other woman in the world. All is centered in that verbal covenant consisting of about 100 words he made in the presence of witnesses.
Thus, the Christian takes the words written down in Scripture very seriously. These are, effectively the marriage covenant; the promise of salvation that God has written down for our security and trust.
Can one become truly wise and obtain true knowledge if he does not first believe in God or His Word? This question is fundamental, and it has been debated throughout the history of the Christian faith. One of the church fathers, Augustine, would say, “I believe, in order to understand.” If the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, then one must first believe in God as He reveals Himself to us in His Word before he can get on to the business of becoming a wise person. Also, we must rely upon God to provide us the Wisdom that is from above. Otherwise, every decision we make, every thought we think will contain a fundamental flaw of some kind.
Verses 67-68.
Affliction is essential for sinners. It is God’s tool for our sanctification. Just as parents need to use the rod in the discipline of children, God uses affliction in our lives to discipline each of us. He does this in order to get our attention, to cultivate the fear of God, to awaken us to the true malignant nature of sin in our lives, and to make us “better children.” This is the thrust of Hebrews 12:6: “For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” The idea of scourging is unpleasant, and the notion of whipping a son is repulsive to the secular humanist mind. He cannot think of a reason why a human being would need to be scourged. If a man has no cancerous disease in his body, why should the doctor subject him to a painful surgery? There is no hope for the man who refuses to admit that he suffers from a terrible spiritual disease and is in desperate need of the sanctifying work of God in his life. But as far as we are concerned, we know that we would probably live on comfortably in the corruption of our sins were it not for the constant discomfort that God sends our way. Every migraine headache, every back pain, every broken leg, every broken relationship, and every tragedy in our lives points us back to God and to our deep spiritual and emotional needs (that can only be filled by supernatural aid).
The underlying assumption on the part of the believer who walks through trials is that God is good (verse 68). Unbelievers become bitter against God in their trials; either they deny God’s sovereign hand in their lives and curse their luck, or they will sullenly accept His sovereign power and curse His hand upon them. A believer, however, begins with the assumption that God is good and that God has a good reason for the affliction that is introduced into his life. Of course, it takes a deep-seated faith to believe that God is good and loving while He subjects you to severe and painful trials. If someone is cutting you open without anesthesia, you have to believe he has your best interest in mind (or you might conclude that he is trying to murder you!).
Verses 69-70.
Proud men are defined as those who reject God’s laws as the standard for life. Often, they will profess belief in somebody named “Jesus”, or in some other religion, but they will not submit to the Lordship of Christ and His law. They will forge lies against men who love God’s laws because the submissive spirit of the godly man condemns the ungodly in their rebellion. The wicked human heart is a lie-manufacturing machine, and the ungodly will constantly form “strawmen” caricatures of the godly. They will accuse them of “hate crimes” for loving homosexuals enough to call them to repentance and faith in Christ who died on the cross for sins. They will insist that pastors who teach that women should submit to their husbands are “hating” women and subjecting them to abusive servitude.
When these proud men hear about the laws of God, the holiness of God, and the judgment of God, it means nothing to them. The message is irrelevant and even ridiculous to them, but it is quite the opposite for the godly man. He delights to hear the law of God, and he finds relevant applications to his life everywhere, every day.
Verses 71-72.
Here the Psalmist admits that suffering is helpful, to the end that he might learn to submit to the commandments of God. Granted, this is not the only way that we learn obedience, for without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in our lives we would never be drawn to loving God and keeping His commandments. Nevertheless, Christ learned obedience by His suffering (Heb. 5:8), and this seems to be one of God’s most important methods of training obedience and sanctifying us for His service. Therefore, we ought not to grow bitter towards God when He subjects us to the fires of trial. When we are tossing and turning in fever and anguish on our beds, let us remember that it is God’s hand that is upon us. It is times like these that we should ask ourselves, “What is the Lord teaching me about obedience? How have I resisted God’s will in stiff-necked rebellion, and how have I attempted to play the part of God?”
Our response to affliction is a true indicator of our relationship with the heavenly Father. It also tests our true beliefs concerning God’s involvement and sovereignty over our lives. Most importantly, do we continue to trust in His goodness toward us, even when our circumstances turn extremely bad? If men lapse in faith concerning the goodness of God, they will turn bitter toward Him and reject His correction. They refuse to believe that He is good enough to save them. They refuse to say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” (Job 13:15)
We can only approach God on the assumption that He is good and He is merciful to us. Those who are bitter, resentful, and intimidated by God cannot and will not approach Him in worship, because they are at enmity with God. We approach a sovereign and powerful God, whom we trust to be good, even when He subjects us to painful trials.
1. What is one of the most basic assumptions we must hold onto in the midst of our trials?
2. Why does a husband treat his wife in a special way, and how does this relate to how God treats us?
3. What do proud men think about the laws of God?
4. What is the benefit of afflictions according to the Psalmist?
5. What does the Psalmist prefer over obtaining millions of dollars in riches?
1. How do you react to the afflictions that God brings into your life? Are you bitter concerning these things, or do you accept them as coming from a loving Father? How does bitterness present itself?