It is Good for me that I have been Afflicted.
Psalms 119:71 NKJV
It
is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your
statutes.
Psalms 119:71 NLT
My suffering was good for me, for it
taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
We are living in a day when so much of what we believe in has been influenced by Westernization. Humanism and all kinds of outlandish beliefs.
People tend to use more quotes and cliches rather than inspirations, they receive from their quiet or devotional times with God. We tend to pick up alot on what others say.
We pick up on what men and women of God say from their quiet times with God rather than what you say?
My question today is, what is God saying to you?
What has He spoken to you in the last two days?
Now, I am not talking about impressions on good feelings that you have on some occasions often endorsed and inspired by money or a loan that you just required that altered your perception and feeling about life.
I am talking about a devotional life.
Because if we lack that, then we lack to know His ways and what He is thinking.
My topic is, "It is Good for me that I have been Afflicted."
This is not your popular topic as we always wish to know what is good.
But this topic has Gods Goodness for us.
Psalms 119:71 NKJV
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.
Psalms 119:71 NLT
My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
Psalms 119:49 NKJV
Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope.
The Psalmist David says. Remember your word.
Like us, we need to evaluate our status and the reasons why we have been called into His kingdom. This is the foundation on which we all as Christians have come to believe.
Remember when you first got saved?
Have you still got that word that God called you out in?
Remember that turn in your road that came with a promise.
David cries out, "Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope."
This is the word that has kept me sane and kept me believing and given me hope. This faith justifies me in the face of whatever comes my way.
David cries out, "Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope."
This is the word that has kept me sane and kept me believing and given me hope. This faith justifies me in the face of whatever comes my way.
Romans 5:1-5 NKJV
Therefore, having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
It equits me. Have you ever been acquitted of something? (my story)
God word sets me free from the beliefs of the world.
Troubles will always be there for some reason or the other and we cannot escape it.
But I know that nothing, no -thing separates me or has the power to separate me unless I allow it.
Romans 8:31-39 NKJV
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are Children of God and we have a place and we belong.
Hebrews 11:13-16 AMP
These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of [God's] promises, only having seen it and greeted it from a great distance by faith, and all the while acknowledging and confessing that they were strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth. [Gen. 23:4; Ps. 39:12.] Now those people who talk as they did show plainly that they are in search of a fatherland (their own country). If they had been thinking with [homesick] remembrance of that country from which they were emigrants, they would have found constant opportunity to return to it. But the truth is that they were yearning for and aspiring to a better and more desirable country, that is, a heavenly [one]. For that reason God is not ashamed to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God–the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob], for He has prepared a city for them. [Exod. 3:6, 15; 4:5.]
David and I say to God.
"it was good that I had been afflicted or else I would have never known your statues and your ways.
I would have never known that suffering is a part of this life.
I would have never known that my faith needs a trial.
That it needs to stand against the enemies of God and spiritual hosts.
That the enemies of God would recognised a tried and tested child of God who carries the authority of God. So that when we speak, people would be set free and miracles will take place and figure of God would have arrived.
Hebrews 11:13-16 AMP
These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of [God's] promises, only having seen it and greeted it from a great distance by faith, and all the while acknowledging and confessing that they were strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth. [Gen. 23:4; Ps. 39:12.] Now those people who talk as they did show plainly that they are in search of a fatherland (their own country). If they had been thinking with [homesick] remembrance of that country from which they were emigrants, they would have found constant opportunity to return to it. But the truth is that they were yearning for and aspiring to a better and more desirable country, that is, a heavenly [one]. For that reason God is not ashamed to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God–the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob], for He has prepared a city for them. [Exod. 3:6, 15; 4:5.]
Acts 19:15 AMP
[one] evil spirit retorted, Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?
The bible says that Jesus learnt obedience from the things He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8-9 NLT
Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.
It is through suffering that we turn to God.
Merriam Dictionary describes:
Definition of suffering: noun
Suffering : pain that is caused by injury, illness, loss, etc. : physical, mental, or emotional pain
Synonym Discussion of suffering
distress, suffering, misery, agony mean the state of being in great trouble. distressimplies an external and usually temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress <the hurricane put everyone in great distress>. sufferingimplies conscious endurance of pain or distress <the suffering of famine victims>. misery stresses the unhappiness attending especially sickness, poverty, or loss <the homeless live with misery every day>. agony suggests pain too intense to be borne <in agony over the death of their child>.
II Corinthians 4:7-18 NKJV
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
Psalms 119:71 NLT
My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
2 Corinthians 4:13-18 MSG
We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life.
Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! So we’re not giving up. How could we!
Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
