Title: Have You Been to the School of Suffering?
Text:
Psalm 119:65-72 (HCSB)
65 LORD, You have treated Your servant well, just as You promised.
66 Teach me good judgment and discernment, for I rely on Your commands.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.
68 You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statutes.
69 The arrogant have smeared me with lies, but I obey Your precepts with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are hard and insensitive, but I delight in Your instruction.
71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes.
72 Instruction from Your lips is better for me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Observation:
What I have found in the Word and in life is that suffering in this present world is unavoidable; you never know when it will knock on your door, and enter your life or the life of your loved ones. Suffering will find you; the question of the day is this. What will it find in you?
Will it find in you what it found in the Psalmist?
Psalm 119:50 (HCSB)
50 This is my comfort in my affliction: Your promise has given me life.
Psalm 119:67 (HCSB)
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.
Psalm 119:71 (HCSB)
71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes.
Psalm 119:92 (HCSB)
92 If Your instruction had not been my delight, I would have died in my affliction.
As long as we live we are students of The School of Suffering. I have seen in my lifetime people who suffering brings out the best in them, and some people who suffering brings out the worst in them. It matters what is in our heart. Be like the Psalmist; treasure God's Word, and store it in your heart.
When suffering comes what you know and believe about God from His Word will bring out the best in you. The Lord is for you, and not against you; God is good and He does good.
Psalm 119:68 (HCSB)
68 You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statutes.
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I pray that when times are good I will store up Your Word in my heart so that when the times of suffering come I will have hope and help, and that I will be able to discern the lessons to be learned from my suffering.
I ask this favor in the name of Him who paid the ultimate price of suffering for the purpose of the salvation of sinners like me. O, how I love Jesus, and God's Word. Amen.
"It tells of One whose loving heart
Can feel my deepest woe,
Who in each sorrow bears a part
That none can bear below."
Source: http://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn.php/h/70#ixzz2n4ZZm59s
Proverbs 30:5 (ESV)
5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Psalm 119:11 (ESV)
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment