Human suffering—particularly trials in believers’ lives—is a multi-faceted issue. In our desire to deal with it biblically, we may latch onto a single Scripture that deals with one facet, and we pass over verses that address other facets. The result can be an imbalanced and inadequate answer to our own questions.
God is behind this suffering. So…I should be content and trust Him.
Man caused this suffering and is perpetuating it. So…I should pursue justice and cry out to God for rescue.
This suffering is terrible. So…I should lament it.
This suffering is doing me good. So…I should be glad and thankful.
Any of these truths taken as a solo voice may lead to confusion in the long-term. Better to find as many truths as we can and listen to them singing harmoniously as a choir.
The more time I spend in Psalm 119 the more I appreciate its recognition that suffering is not one-dimensional. The psalmist gives an honest view of the whole situation from every angle. The result is a balanced teaching that can be tremendously helpful to us if we incorporate the whole into our thinking. Here are some of the truths it presents in the harmonious treatment of trouble.
The human causes and instruments of affliction are evil. The affliction experienced by the psalmist is almost exclusively due to the actions of those intentionally persecuting him. He does nothing to put a positive spin on their actions. For example…
51 “The insolent utterly deride me…
69 “The insolent smear me with lies…
“Insolence” is elsewhere translated as arrogance, only ever characteristic of the wicked in the Bible. We should all know that derision (v51) and lies (v69) are ungodly ways to treat God’s people, but the psalmist spells out the unlawful nature of these things in v85…
85 “The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law.” In the following verse, he specifically notes that their treatment of the psalmist is a wicked contrast to God’s covenant love. That is, their behavior dishonors the Lord.
Therefore, it is legitimate for us to think—in concert with other biblical thoughts—something like… “what others have done to me or mine is wrong. It dishonors God, and they should not have done it.”
It is right to seek justice. The psalmist doesn’t only recognize the evil of their actions, but calls for its judgment.
84 “How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?”
This call for justice parallels God’s own heart. It would be difficult to miss God’s commitment to justice throughout the Scriptures. Plus, the following two verses (85-86), which I mentioned above, note that the psalmist’s desire for justice is not personal vengeance, but how these wicked have violated God’s will and dishonored Him.
Therefore, we ought not be ashamed to pray alongside the psalmist, “Lord, please bring those responsible for this suffering to justice.”
(Some might wonder, “Isn’t this contrary to the gospel? Shouldn’t we just want people to come to Christ in faith and be forgiven?” Salvation doesn’t come at the expense of justice but through justice. To pray for God to bring someone to justice is to pray that one way or another their sin is addressed—either recompensed in Christ’s atonement by faith or recompensed in their own judgment.)
The pain and trouble of suffering is lamentable. The psalmist does not offer a detached or stoic assessment of his own trouble. He laments his suffering…
81 “My soul longs for your salvation…”
82 “My eyes long for your promise…”
83 “For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke…”
v83 is particularly expressive when we understand the metaphor. It pictures a leather skin made dry from heat, made to stink from smoke, and stripped of the flexibility necessary to hold wine—a vivid portrait of physical and spiritual exhaustion. Altogether, these and other verses express that suffering is terrible! And the psalmist has come to the right place to express his lamentation…the ears of His covenant God.
Other theological truths about suffering should not make us feel as if we are being unfaithful or ungrateful if we cry out to God in pain or lament the difficulty of our troubles. The psalms are replete with such cries, and to my knowledge, there is no indication that these lamentations are condemned by the Almighty. After all, God Himself laments evil and suffering (Gen 6:6; Ezek 6:9; Jer 48:31-32).
It is fine to seek rescue from affliction. Most of the section I’ve already referenced (vv81-88) represents the psalmist doing this very thing—seeking relief from his suffering. Those cries are echoed later in the chapter:
107 “I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!”
153 “Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.”
The knowledge that God may be doing us good through our suffering may move us to feel as if it is wrong to ask Him to rescue us from it. The psalmist certainly didn’t take that view. He assumes and explicitly acknowledges God’s ultimate direction of His suffering repeatedly in the psalm…even as he cries for rescue from it.
The prayer, “Lord, please take this cup from me,” will not get you disowned by the Father. Such rescue was sought by a far godlier soul than yours or mine long ago (Matt 26:39). And as we will see, such a cry does not contradict other truths regarding God’s sovereign direction of our trials.
The ultimate mastermind of my affliction is the Lord. The psalmist assumes this throughout, but also states it explicitly:
75 “I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”
In our Reformed community, we rush to this one because it is such a helpful perspective. What a comfort to know the wicked are not out of control…at least, not out of His control. Evil is not driving the bus. The God who loves me has designed these afflictions for me. In faithfulness, He has afflicted me.
Therefore, I can look to Him, not in suspicion, but in trust. This affliction does not represent a lapse in His faithfulness, but is an expression of His faithfulness. I may not understand what He is doing, but I know that He is doing it.
As hinted above, we ought not direct our thoughts only to this truth…there are others beside it in the same Bible. But we do want to recognize them all in the context of each other.
God wants to do me the good of drawing me to Him and His Word through affliction. We should note how closely the psalmist connects God’s Word to God Himself. In multiple places, He characterizes the Word as coming from God’s “mouth” (13, 72, 88). In my view, this is not mere poetic variety, but reminds us that the Bible is not just an old book. These are God’s own thoughts recorded for us on paper. That helps us to see how personal is God’s good intention in our trouble.
67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.”
In other words, “I was unfaithful to you before I was afflicted, but now that I have been afflicted I am faithful to you.” That verse alone does not tell us how affliction led to this correction, but another verse does shed some light:
71 “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”
There are truths that are learned most surely in the classroom of affliction. The simplest way to characterize the conclusion one may rightly come to is this: “Oh, God was right when He said this…” God was right when He said sin is bad for me (Rom 6:23; Jas 1:14-15). God was right when He said, “the miseries of those who chase another god only multiply” (Psa 16:4). God was right when He said His love is better than life (Psa 63:3). God was right when He said He is faithful and good (Psa 145:9, 17). God was right. That is, affliction shows us that God is right in everything He says. Therefore, affliction does good for us.
All the above truths are helpful…in concert. In isolation, any one of them likely will leave aspects of my suffering unaddressed. This may be a reason the Holy Spirit inspired so many different truths related to suffering in one psalm…so that we would understand them relative to one another. We can and should simultaneously lament the evil of our suffering and thank God for the good it is doing us. We can and should desire justice for the human perpetrators while trusting the divine designer. We can and should pray for rescue even as we pray for endurance. We can and should incorporate as much of God’s truth into our thinking as possible.
May we think God’s thoughts about our troubles…and be helped.
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