Originally preached: August 6, 2023
More Precious Than Gold: Finding the Deep Good in Our Afflictions
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
(Psalm 119:71,72)
There are moments in our walk with God when certain scriptures resonate with a force that feels like a divine crescendo, a culmination of truths He has been patiently unfolding. Perhaps we find ourselves standing before such a peak as we consider the words of the psalmist: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver” (Psalm 119:71–72). These are not easy words. They speak of affliction, yet they declare it “good.” They weigh the very law of God’s mouth against all worldly wealth and find His law infinitely superior.
How do we arrive at such a profound, counter-intuitive conviction? How does the soul, often bruised and tender from life’s trials, come to see affliction not as a cruel interruption but as a classroom for divine instruction, a refiner’s fire revealing a good much deeper than we could have imagined?
A God of Unfathomable Depths
Before we delve into the heart of affliction’s good, it helps to remember the God with whom we walk. He is a God of “deep things” (1 Corinthians 2:10). The fellowship He intends with us is not shallow or superficial; it is a communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—a triune depth that is “fascinating… infinitely interesting.” If the very nature of our relationship with Him is this profound, “how can the effects of those fellowships and those interactions with the personages of God not be anything but deep?” His dealings with us, then, will also carry this signature of depth. Even angels, who have “spent millennia upon millennia with this God,” marvel at the unfolding plan of redemption, the “depth that God intended to interact and redeem man.”
Our God does not operate on the surface. His love is deep, His wisdom is deep, His purposes are deep. And so, when He allows trials to touch our lives, we can be assured there is a deep work He intends to do, a “deep good” He means for us to discover.
When Goodness Wears a Disguise
Some aspects of God’s dealings with us are more readily embraced than others. We eagerly receive His blessings, His comfort, His provision. Yet, there are other divine interactions we might “reluctantly consider.” Repentance, with its necessary humbling, can be one. And perhaps even more so, affliction. The very word can send a shiver through us, evoking memories of pain, loss, or confusion.
But what if, within this very experience we tend to shy away from, there lies a “deep, God designed, God intended good that comes in affliction”? What if “the things that are pulled or extracted from that only come to us from affliction”? This is a challenging thought, yet it holds a “beautiful” paradox: “what would otherwise draw other people away, God uses as a means whereby he draws us closer to him.” It is “a bit of a mystery how affliction would be a means by which we draw closer to God,” but it is a mystery worth exploring, for in it lies the key to understanding the heart of our text.
The Unfolding Word: A Tapestry of Goodness
Psalm 119, that majestic ode to God’s Word, is itself a testament to divine depth and design. It is “very poetic in the sense that it’s basically a big acrostic,” with each of its 22 sections corresponding to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each section containing eight verses. “22 times eight being 176.” Each grouping of eight scriptures meticulously “examines the preciousness and the perfectness of God’s word.”
The verses we are pondering, Psalm 119:71 and Psalm 119:72, fall within the section governed by the Hebrew letter tet. What sets this particular set of eight scriptures apart is the psalmist’s deliberate, redundant use of the word “good.” While other sections might introduce different words for each verse starting with the respective letter, here the psalmist “chooses to use a redundancy of the same word, this word, good.” An intentional highlighting of “the beauty that rests in the goodness of God’s word.” The repetition underscores the pervasive, multifaceted goodness inherent in God’s Word and His ways.
And if seven is God’s number for perfection and completeness, the psalmist offers eight verses in this section. Perhaps this is to suggest that God’s Word is “beyond perfect… it adds a layer and a flavor of magnitude to God’s word.” We could have had seven, “but God’s word is just so rich and so glorious that I’m giving you an extra one because God’s word is just that precious.” Indeed, as we consider God’s Word in the Old Testament, especially for a modern audience, we are “really talking about Christ in the New Testament. John 1:1, ‘In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'” All Old Testament signposts ultimately point to Him, in whom “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him” (Colossians 2:9-10).
“You Have Dealt Well With Your Servant”
Our specific passage of reflection (Psalm 119:65-72) begins with a powerful testimony, a look back at God’s faithfulness: “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word” (Psalm 119:65). This is a foundational acknowledgment. The psalmist, reflecting on his experiences, declares that God’s dealings have been good – “you’ve been good in your dealings with your servant.” And crucially, these dealings have been “according unto thy word.”
There is an unshakeable consistency here. The way God has interacted with the psalmist aligns perfectly with His revealed character and promises. “There’s been no contradiction, no falsehood in God’s word because just as God’s word is good, so has his dealings been with his servant.” This stands in stark contrast to human inconsistency, where “what they say and what they do can be two completely different things.” With God, there is “no such variableness. The things that God says and the things that God does, are all in agreeance.” And the testimony rings clear: these dealings are “consistently and invariably good.”
A Prayer from a Believing Heart: “Teach Me”
From this bedrock of experienced goodness and divine consistency, a heartfelt prayer arises: “Teach me good judgment and knowledge; for I have believed thy commandments” (Psalm 119:66). Having affirmed God’s good dealings, the psalmist now yearns for deeper understanding and discernment, “according to his word.” He desires to learn “what good judgment and good knowledge is according to your words.” This isn’t just about knowing the explicit commands, the “things that I should and should not do,” but also about navigating the “thousands of moral judgments that can happen in between those lines.” The cry is, “I want to know how to discern your word that is good… and how I rightly discern and apply the word of God in all things.”
This is a prayer saturated with humility: “Teach me. I don’t know. I don’t understand what good judgment is. I’m lacking in knowledge.” It acknowledges that true wisdom doesn’t originate from within, from “self-actualization, self-realization.” Instead, it flows from God. “These are not things that come from me. Teach me.”
And critically, this prayer is built upon a vital prerequisite: “for I have believed thy commandments.” We approach God’s Word “from a place of trust.” This is so important. “If I’m approaching God’s word, my dealings, and my interactions with God come from a place of trust – illumination, revelation will come because God honors the spirit” the spirit that approaches. To hunger and thirst after righteousness carries the promise of God filling us. The psalmist isn’t “at odds with God’s commandments.” He has “no reason to approach God from a place of disbelief, unbelief, or skepticism.” When we come to God in good faith, believing His Word, He “opens up the windows of discernment and understanding.” Conversely, “if we approach him with skepticism and disbelief… if we are full of pride, full of self, full of doubt, then God hides himself with regard to teaching us judgment and knowledge.” But here, the heart is open, trusting: “I wholeheartedly believe that you and you alone will give me sound counsel.” This echoes the prophetic word concerning Christ, who is our “Counselor” (Isaiah 9:6) – not just by title, but by His very “nature and His character.”
The Unlikely Classroom: Where Affliction Becomes Our Teacher
How does God answer such a sincere, believing prayer for judgment and knowledge? The next verse reveals a surprising, yet profoundly effective, divine methodology: “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word” (Psalm 119:67). Here lies God’s “direct answer, God’s direct design for teaching him… good judgment and knowledge.” He sent affliction. And “this affliction was a profound teacher. It moved him, the psalmist, into deeper obedience.”
This is where we begin to connect the dots of “the deep good in affliction.” The psalmist prayed, “Teach me good judgment, show me, speak to me the things that are not expressly stated in scripture so that I’m able to do your word.” And God, in His infinite wisdom, understood that “it’s necessary that I send affliction to do this.” The affliction itself, then, becomes an instrument of good, because “it brought the psalmist to a deeper obedience.”
“Before I was afflicted, I went astray.” Many of us could raise our hands in agreement, recalling times when, before a period of trial, our choices were misguided, our standards misaligned. In 2006 through 2007 I experienced an “18 month stretch” of learning God’s provision. Perhaps, you too have found yourself in places you didn’t think you should be, only to discover “it’s good for me to be here.” In those moments, our solutions might be “topical and shallow according to God’s standards.” We might cry out for a quick fix, a change in circumstance. But “God was teaching me something deeper… a much deeper lesson that would not just carry me through that period, but would be something that I could apply throughout the remainder of my life.” Had God simply granted the superficial request, “this good judgment and this good knowledge that he wants to have taught me through that experience would have been lost.”
Affliction, then, becomes necessary for our obedience. It drives us to prayer, often back to the very place where we first sought God’s teaching. It’s a cycle: we pray, God tests and afflicts, and this experience drives us deeper into prayer and, ultimately, obedience. “But now have I kept thy word.” The word “kept” here is rich; it’s not merely “doing,” but as the Hebrew implies, “more carefully to have guarded the word.” It’s about becoming a “caretaker, a keeper of it… guarding the word that has been delivered to me.”
This guarding is crucial because, as the Parable of the Sower teaches (Mark 4), when the Word is sown, affliction or persecution can arise “for the word’s sake,” leading some to be “immediately offended.” There’s a “fork in the road that happens at affliction.” The enemy desires the Word to become an obstacle, a source of offense. But God intends for that same affliction to push us “into deeper obedience, deeper prayer… such that we endure the affliction.” It then “doesn’t become a means of separation, but becomes a means by which we draw closer to God.”
The Echo of Faith: “You Are Good, and You Do Good”
Emerging from this crucible, the psalmist’s conviction is not only intact but deepened: “Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes” (Psalm 119:68). Here, we see a “post-affliction reaffirmation.” The trial that could have led to skepticism or bitterness has instead solidified his faith. “God is good and does good.” The “pre-affliction resolutions are consistent with his post-affliction resolutions.” Remember, he began by stating, “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant.” Now, having passed through the waters of affliction, his testimony remains unchanged, indeed strengthened.
Obedience born from trial “builds a strength and solidarity within our spirit where we build upon our faith.” Our resolve becomes “that much more fervent.” And notice the plea that follows this affirmation: “teach me thy statutes.” It’s as if the experience, though painful, has whetted his appetite for more of God. He doesn’t say, “Okay, I’ve learned my lesson, I can move on.” Instead, he “doubles down on the effects of what God has taught him in affliction.” The obedience and depth of relationship gained lead him to say, “Teach me more.” It’s a posture of profound trust: “Thank you, sir. May I have another?” If more affliction means a deeper sense of obedience, a more profound guarding of God’s Word, then so be it. This is the cry of a heart that has “gone through the test and trial of affliction and persecution that would draw others away, but has now pulled him into a deeper relationship with God.”
Tried by Lies, Anchored in Truth
What specific affliction was the psalmist enduring? Verses 69 and 70 offer a glimpse: “The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.” His trial involved slander, a “smear campaign” by his adversaries. This was an attack on his character. “How do you fight a lie?” One cannot easily “defend oneself against a lie.”
His response is not to “jump on the offensive and vindicate himself.” Instead, “he clings. He keeps the word of God. He guards that which is true.” Against the onslaught of falsehood, his anchor is God’s truth: “I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.” He refuses to let the lies dictate his actions or his devotion. In an age where opinions and evaluations can often hold undue sway, this is a powerful stance. “I am going to hold on to the precepts, His precepts, with my whole heart. I am going hold on to that which is true.” We cannot “outbattle the enemy on his battleground, playing according to his rules.” The only way is to “have integrity and hold to that which is right.” While their hearts may be calloused and unresponsive (“fat as grease”), his delight remains steadfastly in God’s law.
The Profound Paradox: “It Is Good for Me That I Have Been Afflicted”
And so we arrive at the central declaration, the summation of this profound experience: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Psalm 119:71). This is his settled “conclusion. Ultimately, at the end of all things, I learned that it is good for me that I have been afflicted.” The repetition of “good” echoes throughout this section, emphasizing the “depth of good in affliction.”
This isn’t merely accepting affliction as a “necessary evil,” something detestable that yields a good result. The perspective here is more radical: affliction, when ordained by God for our learning, is “good in and of itself.” It aligns with the truth that “every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). If affliction is the divinely chosen vehicle to teach us His statutes, then the vehicle itself partakes in the goodness of the Giver and the gift. “It only works unto evil if we allow the enemy to have his will in the things that we go through.” But in God’s economy, it “was good that I was afflicted because, ultimately, I learned his statutes.” The very thing he desired of God—to be taught, to be shown, to be led into good judgment and knowledge—God has “answered and given me not just what I asked for, but the thing perfectly attuned for what I needed. And it only came through the vehicle of affliction.”
Learning His Statutes: The Divine Curriculum
Affliction, then, is a “profound teacher.” It brings about the learning, the discernment, the very understanding he prayed for. This isn’t a principle unique to the psalmist. The writer to the Hebrews tells us of Christ Himself: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). If the sinless Son learned obedience through suffering, how much more might we, His followers, find suffering to be a classroom for our own growth in obedience? “You will learn obedience by the things that you have been afflicted by.”
Martin Luther, reflecting on this very psalm, identified a “three-pronged cycle of faith”: oratio (prayer), meditatio (meditation), and tentatio (trial or testing). He “saw clearly in Psalm 119, the working of affliction as a necessary prong in the cycle of our faith.” We begin with prayer and meditation, and this “ultimately leads us to trial.” For Luther, “there are things that are learned that are taken away in trial and trial only that solidify the faith.” The trial itself drives us back to prayer and meditation, seeking God’s strength and wisdom to endure. In this cycle, understanding deepens, and faith is fortified.
When Evil Intentions Meet Divine Goodness
The enemy, of course, has his own agenda in our afflictions. When the Word of God is delivered and received, when discernment begins to dawn, “the enemy works such that he tries to snatch the Word of God before it can have its illuminating effect on your soul.” He aims for the affliction to produce offense, to make us question God, to break the bond of belief.
We see this dynamic powerfully in the life of Joseph. His brothers, through their envy and cruelty, subjected him to immense affliction. Their intentions were purely malicious. Yet, from the vantage point of God’s fulfilled purpose, Joseph could declare, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20). “When affliction comes… the enemy’s evil intentions are that we become offended at the Word of God and stop and run in the opposite direction.” He wants us to believe our trust in God was misplaced. “But God means it for good.” God’s perfect will is that “the affliction will drive us back to, first to obedience, but will drive us to prayer, into meditation, into understanding.” It confirms for us that “God is consistent in the things that he says and that he does, and that even in the things that are presented to me as most evil… God, still intends for my good.”
This is a truth to hold onto tightly. What incredible assurance! “The worst that life wants to throw at you, the worst that the enemy tries to do in you… God still turns that thing on its head and means it for good in me.” The enemy “doesn’t want me to enjoy the goodness of God, but he can’t thwart the design of God.” Little wonder James exhorts, “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray” (James 5:13). Affliction initiates the cycle anew, driving us to the One who works all things for our good.
Better Than Thousands of Gold and Silver
The psalmist’s reflection culminates in a profound statement of value: “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver” (Psalm 119:72). This isn’t just an intellectual assent; it’s a conviction forged in the fires of affliction. He has learned God’s statutes through trial, and this learning, this intimate knowledge of God’s Word, has become supremely precious.
This “belief system” reorients everything. The “law of God.. is more important to me than anything that this world can offer.” So, when God teaches us through affliction, He isn’t just giving us “something of value,” He isn’t merely making us “a better person” by worldly standards. “You don’t endure persecution so you can be a better version of yourself. No, God “works in us… that we might be righteous and holy according to His standard.” And the statutes learned through affliction are “infinitely of value.” He “hasn’t just given me a benefit out of affliction, but he’s given me the only good benefit that there is in life because my value system is right aligned such that the only thing that I desire from God is the law of his mouth.”
This is the “deep good” laid bare. Through affliction, God has given “the one thing that is profoundly more important than anything that the world has to offer.” And so, with eyes wide open to God’s purposes, we can affirm that affliction, when it yields such treasure, is indeed good. The discernment, understanding, and obedience gained are deepened by the very trials we endure, leading to a heart that can truly sing, “I got just what I wanted from the Lord”—His ways, His truth, and His presence.
Embracing the Deep Good
The path of affliction is rarely one we would choose for ourselves. Our human hearts and minds naturally “steer far clear of” suffering. Yet, if we shy away, we risk missing “the glory of God, the depth that God has for us.” The invitation today is to recognize that “there is not only good in affliction, there is deep good.”
Therefore, “stay in your affliction” in the sense of enduring with faith, not allowing “the enemy to gain the upper hand through your affliction, through persecution, through trial, such that it produces in us an offense to the word of God.” If we truly “value the law of God,” if His Word is indeed “more precious than gold or silver” to us, then as we endure, “God will work in you a deeper obedience, a deeper discernment…and an understanding of the things that we’ve endured.” We will come to know, with ever-increasing certainty, that we have “a right relationship with a God who is good according to His word.”
