Trials and Afflictions

Shortly after Christmas, my wife and I both got sick.  Through January and most of February, we saw the doctor, got meds, and both got worse!  We both spent time in the hospitald (a week apart) with pneumonia, and I had influenza A.  We both are just now finishing our strong antibiotics, and still coughing, but feel like we’re finally on the mend.

I read In Touch daily devotions.  Here’s the devotion for today (Feb 28).  The scripture reference is Psalm 119:65-72:

When we were still in school, most of us probably preferred the hands-on learning of field trips to classroom lectures. A lot of adults, however, no doubt wish they could absorb life lessons from a book instead of from their own painful mistakes. But the truth is, there are some things we learn best through experience.

Some trials are the result of sin and can play a big corrective role in our lives. God might use them to draw our attention to unhealthy habits, attitudes, or activities we have tolerated or overlooked. No matter how trivial we may think a sin is, it should have no place in a believer’s life.

Or it could be that God is showing us something we need to release to Him—perhaps a relationship, goal, or ambition. And sometimes He calls us to exercise self-control so that we can pursue Him to a greater degree.

If we never had any troubles, we would continue in what’s comfortable, easy, and enjoyable but might end up missing God’s best for our life. That’s why the psalmist said, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn Your statutes” (119:71). Any hardship that drives us to God and His Word is good for us. That’s because what we gain in knowing the Lord is worth so much more than all the wealth and fame the world can offer us.

⁶⁵ You have dealt well with Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your word.
⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
For I believe Your commandments.
⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
⁶⁸ You are good, and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.

⁷¹ It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.
⁷² The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.