Growing Through Suffering: Lessons from Psalm 119

``The lord uses suffering as a means of growth. And as we all surely know, suffering can drain us physically, emotionally, spiritually, but the psalmist challenges us this morning, doesn't he? He challenges us. Don't waste your affliction. Instead, allow God in his grace to use it as a means of growth. And by the way, maybe you noticed this as we were going through this this morning. One key to allowing God to use suffering as a means of growth. The psalmist points this out, is that we continue to use the active means of growth that God gives. What are those? The word of God coupled with prayer. [01:02:34] (61 seconds)  #SufferingForGrowth

What is he saying here? Now we might use well, we we have a whole bunch of numbers we could use beyond thousands. Right? We have millions and then billions and then trillions and etcetera etcetera. But what is he communicating here? What's he what he's simply saying is that, I wouldn't I wouldn't trade God's word for all the world's wealth. How can he come to that? Well, in the season of affliction, he's come to a deeper appreciation of God's word and his wisdom. [00:42:37] (31 seconds)  #WordOverWealth

You have dealt well with your servant. Now, honestly, haven't we grown significantly in our lives when we can say this on the other side of suffering? When we can say, God, you did well in allowing me or bringing me into that season of suffering and and and affliction and heartache or whatever it was. You have done well. This is an appreciation of god's grace that he does well even even in bringing us into these seasons of suffering. [00:36:19] (45 seconds)  #GratefulThroughTrials

Spurgeon wrote this. He said, sweet are the uses of adversity and this is one of them. It puts a bridle upon transgression and it furnishes a spur for holiness. Those of you who have equestrian interests, you get the picture completely, don't you? Affliction, it puts a bridle upon transgression. Woah. But it furnishes a spur for holiness, spurs us on. Yes. Suffering can be corrective. It can be corrective. The the psalmist, he says, before I was afflicted, I went astray. [00:48:49] (43 seconds)  #AdversitySparksHoliness

We can come to the understanding that it is critically important to trust God through the suffering. Job comes to this subtle to this settled conclusion. When all is said and done, Job realizes, God is God and I am not, and that is enough. That is enough. And then Job's experience teaches us that it is wonderfully possible to grow in and through our suffering. [00:33:22] (35 seconds)  #TrustThroughSuffering

Job's experience teaches us that it's often futile to determine a specific cause, a source, or purpose. For all the suffering that Job endured, it was for him a complete and total mystery. He never did get a a reason for it. He had no idea what the cause was, but he did come to some pretty profound comprehension, didn't he? Another thing we can learn from Job's suffering is that it's always illegitimate to blame God, to shake the fist at God. [00:32:44] (37 seconds)  #DontBlameGod

Suffering can also be instructive, we see in verse 71, where he says it's good for me that I have been afflicted that I may learn your statutes. You know, there are some things that we don't learn well until we learn them in the fire of affliction. Martin Luther said it this way. He said, I never knew the meaning of God's word until I came into affliction. I have always found it, affliction, one of my best school masters. [00:49:57] (32 seconds)  #AfflictionTeaches

Suffering may come upon us because of personal disobedience, for example. Suffering can come to us because of the evil of other people. It it can come upon us because we're living in a broken and fallen world. As we mentioned this morning in the adult Sunday school class, one of the pervasive things that exists from the time of Genesis chapter three is suffering, is misery. Suffering is pervasive from Genesis three verse six through Revelation 20. It's on almost every page of your bible. [00:22:01] (40 seconds)  #SufferingIsPervasive