119 - Pt. 4
I. Introduction
It is long. It is lengthy. It is passed over by those who prefer brevity. It is neglected by those who prefer short and sweet. It is shunned by the Reader's Digest crowd. However, in its great length is also has great depth. Multifaceted. It is rich. It is worth the time it takes to explore. It is the 119. It is the longest chapter in the entire Bible. And before we dig into it, it is important to understand some background. It is comprised of 22 stanzas each being 8 verses long and each verse is two lines long. Each stanza sequentially begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So there was structure to David's verbosity. He wasn't just shooting off at the mouth. This is thought out and developed. In fact, there is a tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church that King David used this psalm to teach his son Solomon both the Hebrew alphabet and the “alphabet of the spiritual life.”
When we started I mentioned that the 119 has at least 3 major themes that run throughout its landscape. The first that we dug into was David's emphasis on the Word. He teaches us that without the Word you can't walk, weather, or war. The Word is absolutely essential and if you have a deficiency of Word you will stumble, surrender and find yourself surrounded. Then in week 2 we dealt with David's instructions on prayer. So I am praying that you have been praying the 3 prayers he said to pray. Teach me! Has He taught you anything this week? Bless me! I don't need to ask you if prayed that because we all have no problem praying that. Protect me! I need God to watch over me and protect me from me and my enemy! I don't want to squander my blessing so I need knowledge and protection! Then last week we dealt with the theme of praise found in the 119. We discussed the "when" of our praise and said that even if it is midnight we should be praising. When did Ruth go to Boaz and get his attention? She laid down at his feet at midnight and it startled him. Her advance at midnight got his attention. If some of you would begin to praise at midnight it might just get God's attention! Have you gotten His attention this week with midnight praise? We need to get the ratio right 7 to 1! We talked about the "why" of praise. We praise because it is what we are created to do. We praise as an overflow of our life. Your mouth will not overflow with praise if your life doesn't overflow with praise. Finally we dealt with the "how" we praise. We should be willing praisers. No one should have to crank us up or work us up. When we operate from the reference that He is worthy and the reverence that when we gather He is in the room we become willing and attentive worshippers.
So now let's move to a section of the 119 that I wished I hadn't noticed. I wish David had not written three of the verses that he writes. I mean come on David you have written enough just leave this part out. But he didn't and by including these thoughts he teaches us a very important lesson and point of perspective by trying to teach his son how to navigate life
David had certainly endured some hardship up to this point in his life. Overlooked by his own father. Overlooked by the king. His father-in-law desired to kill him. His wife despises him. His best friend dies. He loses a child as judgment. His own son tries to orchestrate a mutiny against him. His history marked by bloodshed. He is unable to fulfill what he considers to be his lifelong dream and instead must simply resource an accomplishment he will never be able to enjoy. David was no stranger and in fact is the perfect person to speak to us on the concept of affliction. Of all the life lesson's he felt compelled to teach his son he could not gloss over, leave out or sugarcoat the reality of and experience of affliction.
David makes three very direct and powerful statements about pain and affliction. Let's break each of these statements down and learn today.
Psalms 119:67
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.
David is very clear . . . before affliction was introduced into the equation of his life he was wandering astray. As soon as pain was mixed in his attention was arrested and the hurt caused him to once again become obedient and compliant to the Word. Would to God that we were obedient and compliant before affliction but for most of us, including David a man after God's own heart this isn't the case! Anyone here ever discipline your child only to notice they are inclined after the discipline to obey better than they did before the discipline?
Affliction is a tool or implement of discipline! This means it is part of discipleship.
Several verses after his discussion on affliction David requests that God comfort him. Our issue is that we want comfort with no affliction. The truth is you cannot and do not need to be comforted if you don't experience affliction. Likewise we want discipleship with no discipline. If you don't discipline you end up with rebellious, headstrong, and spoiled children.
God is committed to our character more than He is to our comfort!
Too many of us avoid, run from, self-medicate so we can ignore, complain about, and become angry about affliction that we have or are enduring when the truth is it took that affliction to get us to obey. Our own rebellious, hard headed ways led us astray and it took pain to get us back. Too many of us are mad at what God is utilizing to make us better!
David apparently came to grips with the fact that the pain of discipline is more desirable than the pain that comes as the result of rebellion and disobedience.
I never thanked my parents for disciplining me when I was going through it but now I look back and understand the pain of discipline helped me grow and develop! Affliction was a gift!
Psalms 119:71
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
Hear what he says carefully! This is a foreign concept to us. Say it with me . . . It was good for me to be afflicted. Say it again . . . It was good for me to be afflicted. So if it is good for us to be afflicted then why do we kick, scream, whine, and complain when we are afflicted?
Pain is productive! Affliction is our friend. Affliction is a professor. It has the ability to help us learn!!! It is a great protector. The pain prompts us to the right direction.
It is almost as if we can quote Romans for everybody else's predicament but never apply it to our own. All things work together for good! Not certain things or just pleasant things! David seemed to understand that!
David has matured in his relationship with God to the point that he now states that affliction was actually a blessing. It was good for him.
Romans 5:4 - Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
So David and Paul both recognized that if you don't have any afflictions you will have no perseverance. If you have no perseverance you will have no character and if no character no hope.
Have you run into those parents that do everything in their power to make sure their little, perfect baby never hurts, never fails? I mean they only put them in leagues where they all get a trophy. They bail them out of trouble, never let them pay their own bills, never let them endure any heartache? You know the result right? They raise a child that has no perseverance and no character.
David was confident that affliction was necessary for learning!
Psalms 119:75
I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
If we are not careful we begin to question God's faithfulness when we are going through trials and painful seasons.
David would suggest that affliction is an indication of God's faithfulness.
If you are in pain you need to peer through the cloud of agony and disappointment and see God's faithful hand at work.
Not only do we question God's faithfulness we also begin to become angry at God for allowing us to have to go through what we are going through. Others will even encourage us to become bitter. Go read about Job's "friends" who tried to convince him to curse God and die in the middle of his pain.
David and Job must have been Southern Gospel fans because they understood that "If He is God on the mountain He is also God in the valley!" The pain of my life doesn't change or alter His faithfulness.
It is the immature, prosperity gospel sick Christian that can only see God's goodness and grace when everything is turning out as planned. You have a fairy tale God if He is only God when you are living a fairy tale. Why is that we have so few hero level Christians like we seem to see so abundantly in Scripture? Could it be that we have chosen easy over endurance? Pleasure over pain? Comfort over character! We are raising a generation of quitters because we don't have the proper perspective towards affliction so when it gets hard we quit. When there are trials we throw in the towel. When the marriage goes through painful moments we bail. When the job isn't joyous for two weeks we jet. However, it is the mature, healthy Christian that comes to the realization that even in the midst of turmoil, sickness, heartache, down turns, brokenness, and moments of need He is still faithful and still has our best interest in mind! Therefore, I push through. I endure. I grow. I mature and I now see that if God is allowing a trial it is my trustworthiness that is being tested not His!
I challenge those of you that are in the middle of a battle . . . in the middle of hurt . . . to push back the cloud of pain and see His hand holding you up! Label what you are going through differently. You have been saying it is hell but see it as heaven. You have labeled it as God-forsaken now see it as God-favored. There is power in your words. "What you call them they will be!"
In David's life affliction was a key component that led to obedience, instruction, and recognition of God's goodness towards him. How will you view affliction? David knew that at the end of pain and affliction God was always faithful!
Afflicted to Affectioned!
Psalm 34:19-20: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
Let's be clear David didn't say you would have affliction he says . . . we will have many afflictions. That doesn't seem to be good news but we also hear the promise . . . The Lord delivereth him out of them all . . . our affliction doesn't bring His trustworthiness into question. He is faithful if we hold on. Some of us never experience God coming through because we detour out of affliction. We never see God come through because we take matters into our own hands because we desire comfort so badly that we will forfeit miracles to be able to enjoy life!
If we would let affliction run its course it is the canvas upon which God's faithfulness will be displayed in all of its grander!
Some of you only see God's finger-painting because you keep exiting affliction when if you would hold on He has a Rembrandt that He would like to paint over your life!
