Psalm 119:75

Today’s meditation centers around the third verse in the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Jod.  This verse is very rich.  It addresses much of what we experience in life and it teaches us how we ought to deal with it.  This will be a longer than usual meditation.  Take your time with it.  Break it into parts, if you will.  Above all, learn from it.  I will give some extra space for you to digest it before I send you another meditation.

Psalms 119:75  I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

As with all but four of the verses of this psalm, this verse is a prayer.  It is interesting that in this particular prayer, the psalmist made no request.  He rather stated to God something that he knew.  Recall that prayer is form of communication.  A vital part of communication between persons is the sharing of knowledge.  In His written word, God tells us things He knows.  In prayer we in turn tell the Lord things we know.  Any teacher is gratified to hear his pupils tell him what they have learned from him.  Such is also the case with the Great Teacher, the only wise God.

The psalmist states to the Lord that he knew two things:  God’s judgments are right and God had afflicted him in faithfulness.  The psalmist knew this; he entertained no doubt in his mind about it.

Now let’s recall what is meant by the word judgments.

Judgment – Divine sentence or decision; spec. a misfortune or calamity regarded as a divine visitation or punishment, or as a token of divine displeasure.  In various Biblical uses, chiefly as rendering of Heb. mishpit, in its different uses.  A (divine) decree, ordinance, law, statute.

Everything the Lord decides to do or to permit is a judgment.  In this case, the Lord decided to afflict the psalmist.  But God’s judgments also refer to the Scriptures, which record His decrees and laws.  The Scriptures inform us of the nature of God such as in this passage:

Deuteronomy 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Now a God Whose work is perfect, Who is without iniquity, and Who is just and right never makes a bad decision.  Anything He decides to do is right.  And the Scriptures also inform us that when the Lord afflicts us, it is for our good.

Deuteronomy 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Psalms 66:10  For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

11  Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.

12  Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

Psalms 94:12  Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law….

Romans 5:3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Hebrews 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

When you read passages like these and you are persuaded they are right, then you know anytime God decides to afflict you, His judgment, His decision to do so is right. 

If you are in affliction, it is because God sees that you need that affliction.  That is why He decides to let it come upon you.

1 Peter 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations….

The Lord knows what you need better than you do.  If you are murmuring under your affliction, although you may not admit it, you really think the Lord has made a mistake and is dealing unfairly with you.  This was Job’s problem.  When the Lord permitted Satan to afflict Job, Job thought the Lord had made a mistake.  He wanted his day in court to argue his case.  Said he:

Job 23:3  Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

4  I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

Well, Job finally got his day in court (Job 38-41).  But instead of Job questioning God, God questioned him.  The Lord asked Job questions the answers to which demonstrated God’s absolute, sovereign power and wisdom.  Who was Job to question a God so great and wise?  One question the Lord asked Job was this:

Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

You see, Job thought he was right and the Lord was wrong.  He had been very unlike the psalmist.  He did not think God’s judgment in his case was right.  But when the Lord was through interrogating Job, Job changed his tune and said:

Job 42:3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

4  Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

5  I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

6  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Had Job looked upon his affliction from God’s perspective, He would not have complained so much.  But after the Lord confronted him, Job joined ranks with the psalmist and acknowledged that the Lord’s judgment was right.

One reason we complain about our afflictions is that deep down we think we deserve better.  What fool’s we are!  Charles Bridges made the following insightful comments about this:

“The child of God under the severest chastisement must acknowledge justice.  Our gracious reward is always more – our ‘punishment always less, than our iniquities deserve.’ (Ezra 9:13. Comp. Job 11:6.)  ‘Wherefore should a living man complain?’ (Lamentations 3:39.)  In trouble he is indeed - but not in hell.  If he complain, let it be of none but himself, and his own wayward choice.”

We ought to be glad we are being let off as easy as we are.  We deserve to be in hell.  We would all be better Christians if we complained more of our own foolishness than of our afflictions.

Now when we are suffering under the weight of affliction, we might be tempted to think God has abandoned us.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It is in faithfulness that the Lord afflicts us.  The following passage drives this fact home.

Psalms 89:30  If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

31  If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

32  Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

33  Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

When the Lord afflicts you, it is for your good.  It is to purge you of pride, of sin and error, and of the love of this world.  By means of affliction the Lord is making you more like the Lord Jesus Christ.  Hence, Paul referred to his afflictions as “the fellowship of his sufferings,” that is, the sufferings of Jesus (Philippians 3:10).  And if we have a part in the sufferings of Christ, we will also have a part in His glory.

Romans 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

1 Peter 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

If when the Lord afflicts you He is fitting you for glory, then certainly it is in faithfulness that He afflicts you.  Oh, what great rewards in heaven are laid up for those who are afflicted with Christ here.  This realization should transform your complaining into praising that you are being “counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer” (2Thessalonians 1:5).  The following passage reveals that the apostles obviously knew that God’s judgments were right and that it was in faithfulness that He had afflicted them.

Acts 5:40  And…when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41  And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Oh, that we had more of this holy, apostolic faith and joy to suffer with and for Jesus!