Title Psalm 119 (2010.10.17)
Contents
Title: Suffering
Text: (Psalm 119:67-71)
Hymns: 406. A place to rest my weary soul
Date: October 17, 2010 (Sunday) 5 am
Venue: Jeonju Yebut Church Small Worship Room
Introduction
The book of Job said, "Life is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward. If it were me, I would ask God and trust in God" (Job 5:7-8). And Peter said, "Rejoice in your participation in the sufferings of Christ, that you may rejoice and rejoice in His glory" (1 Peter 4:13-19). That is why the Apostle Paul said that present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with future glory (Romans 8:18).
So, what are the benefits of suffering for us?
1. You will live according to the Word (verse 67).
“Until I suffered, I went astray, but now I keep the word of the Lord.”
This means that the psalmist did not live rightly according to God's Word until he suffered. But after suffering, it means to live thoroughly according to the word of the Lord. That's right. If a person experiences hardship even while living outside the Word, he will regret not living according to the Word in the past and will be able to correct it. From this point of view, we can see that there are many lessons that suffering can teach us.
2. You will find something useful (verse 71).
“What I have been through has been beneficial to me. Because of that suffering, I have learned Your statutes.”
The psalmist sees that his sufferings have benefited him much. This is from a spiritual point of view. In the physical aspect, it suffers a lot, but in the spiritual aspect, it has brought many benefits.
The Apostle Paul said, "Therefore we do not lose heart, for though our outward man perishes, but our inward man is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16). In the saints, sometimes the fleshly person suffers and the spiritual person gains many benefits. So there is a saying that works together for good.
3. You will learn the ordinances (verse 71).
“Because of that suffering, I have learned Your statutes.”
It is said that it is more effective for a person to learn directly through suffering than from a book. For a hungry person to know the circumstances of hunger is the knowledge learned through the sufferings of hunger, and for a widow to know the circumstances of the widow is the knowledge learned through experience how great the suffering of the widow is through the suffering of the widow. Other than that, everything is like that. In other words, there is a difference between what you learn in theory and what you learn in practice. The psalmist confessed that he learned through experience how terrible the consequences of not keeping God's word were committed.
conclusion
Suffering cannot be considered as a bad thing. Through suffering, I learned to live according to God's word, I learned useful things in every way, and I learned to keep God's laws. Therefore, the lessons taught by suffering are not without great effect.
<Prayer>
1. For the commemoration of the 24th anniversary of the founding of the church - worship services, volunteer activities, scholarship offerings...