In Thy Faithfulness

August 7, 2018

Good Morning Fellow Travelers,

Read: Psalm 119:65-80


“I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.” Psalm 119:75


Do we believe that God’s judgments are right, as the key verse says? That is essential if we will understand the rest of the verse. It will help us to appreciate the faithfulness of God. But how is God’s faithfulness expressed through affliction? We need to contemplate the power of this truth in order to see affliction in true perspective.

To those who are ill: it is in faithfulness to you that God has allowed this sickness. His love goes beyond our imagination. But who would imagine that God’s faithfulness can include affliction? God is more interested in making good men and women out of us than in giving us a life of ease. He wants to create faith and noble character in us. God’s desire to perfect us and to redirect our affections is what guides His hand in choosing this way of suffering.

To those tempted with bitterness: do not blame God foolishly. Whatever our particular affliction, it shows God’s faithfulness in mercy toward us. If we get this straightened out in our soul, we are on the way to spiritual recovery. God loves us too much to let us go, and He suffers long with us because He is too faithful to do otherwise. This should cause us to move from bitterness to joy. God is indeed showing us His faithfulness through affliction!

Let us respond properly to His faithful nudges even when they feel like head-on collisions. We may wake up with a siege of pain and misery, shake our head and ask, “Lord, do I really need this?” Let us be unflinching in faith and understand that in the tapestry of life, our surrender to the stitches of ugliness on the underside will complete a design of exquisite beauty on the eternal side.

– James Baer