May 14 -Reading 42: Psalm 119:57-112

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.”

(Psalm 119:71)

We all want our lives to be trouble-free. Why? We think we deserve it. After all, we are doing our best to follow Him and do His will, so why should we have to suffer the heartbreak of wayward spouses or children, the pain of persecution, or the sorrow of the loss of health or life?

The truth is that trials are not something we can prevent, even though, consciously or subconsciously, we often rehearse all the details in our minds and wonder what we could have done differently. We are missing the point.

In our focus verse today, affliction is praised for teaching us to look to His ways, depending on Him instead of ourselves. Hebrews 12:11 further reinforces this idea: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Rick Warren writes: “I would like to think I could have made it to safely to heaven on a smooth path, running straight and wide beneath bright skies. I would like to imagine I would remain faithful to God without the training rod of trouble. But in a world like ours, and with hearts like ours, some of God’s best gifts come wrapped in the black box of trouble. They burden us, sometimes almost unbearably. But they also bend us toward the One whose steadfast love is better than life” (Psalm 63:3).

Whatever troubles we are facing, our sovereign God has allowed them for His divine purposes. Let’s ask Him to help us be soft clay in the Potter’s hands, as He forms us into useful vessels to carry and reflect His glory. May we see that these trials are causing us to “become mature and complete,” so that we will be able to “count it all joy” (James 1:2). In the end, He is our portion (Psalm 119:57). He is all we need.