You have dealt well with your servant,
O Lord, according to your word.
Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word.
You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.
The insolent smear me with lies,
but with my whole heart I keep your precepts;
their heart is unfeeling like fat,
but I delight in your law.
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes.
The law of your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
The Psalmist thanks God for affliction. Apparently the Psalmist had strayed from God’s word and into sin. In response, the Lord had afflicted him with some sort of misery in the form of persecution, enemy attack, illness, or just the pangs of a bad conscience. Whatever these trials consisted of, he knew enough to seek the Lord for encouragement and strength to endure them. He also called on the Lord to silence the arrogant and ungodly who were ridiculing him because of his hardships. Even though these trials were harsh and demanding, the Psalmist knew that he had to endure them because they were leading him closer to the Lord.
Many in the church today would cringe at the idea that affliction could be sent by God. Many Charismatics as well as those who preach or ascribe to the gospel of health and material prosperity would say that to thank God for affliction is a negative confession, it is not what God wants. They attribute all afflictions to the devil, to Satan. While Satan may indeed have a hand in inflicting suffering on human beings, ultimately the Lord God allows all of it to happen for His own reasons, reasons which He does not have to divulge to anyone. But very often, as we see here, affliction, deserved or not, is designed to lead the believer back to God after he or she has gone astray. At such times we are fall humbled in the face of our tribulation. Then we must confess to the Lord and seek forgiveness. Then too we must ask for strength and wisdom to endure with patience.