This is my two places. Number one, Psalm 119, and we're gonna be in verses 73 through 80. But then I also encourage you to turn just very briefly here at the beginning to 2 Corinthians chapter one, verses three and four. I'm gonna read both of those in your hearing, and then just give a few reflections on this stanza in Psalm 119. So once again, Psalm 119. Verses 73 to 80 and 2 Corinthians 1, 3 to 4. Start with Psalm 119. Your hands have made and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice because I have hoped in your word. I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. Let your mercy come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. Let the insolent be put to shame because they have wronged me with falsehood. As for me, I will meditate on your precepts. Let those who fear you turn to me that they may know your testimonies. May my heart be blameless in your statutes that I may not be put to shame. And then 2 Corinthians 1, verses three to four. Paul says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which We ourselves are comforted by God. Let's try the reading of God's word. So I think it was last week I was working out in my yard and there was a bunch of poison ivy on my fence. And so I put on long pants and long shirt and I went out to conquer and divide. And at some point it got warm so I wrapped up my sleeves like I do now and of course I got poison ivy. And it just got me thinking, I wonder what it was like for the first person who got poison ivy, or maybe, let's say, the second person who got poison ivy. And they got it, and it's really bad, and you're itching, you're scratching all the time, and it's very uncomfortable. And you had two people come to you, and one person said, well, I'm sure it will pass. And the second person said, I'm sure it will pass because I had it and it passed from me. Which one would you take more comfort from? You would take more comfort from the second person, right? There's nothing wrong with the person giving an indicative statement, oh, it'll pass, it's a hopeful statement, it's a wishful statement, but there's no experiential receipt, if you will. Whereas the second person, they know because they have experienced it. Well, that is what our Psalm and what Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians is all about tonight. Very simply, listen to me very carefully, this psalm, this stanza is about God comforting us in our affliction so that we may in turn go to others and comfort them in their affliction. It is not a theoretical comfort. It is a real experiential comfort. And listen to me, all of us need to have our treasure houses filled with these kinds of experience so that we can go to others and comfort those who are in affliction. And what this psalm is gonna do for us tonight, or at least this stanza, is I hope and I pray, because this is what it's done for me as I've applied it to myself, I hope that it'll have the same effect on us, that we will begin or continue perhaps to look at affliction in a different way. Because as I said last week, and I think this is our common practice, we tend to run in the opposite direction of affliction, don't we? We want to get away from affliction. And we don't tend to stop and think about the God behind our affliction, we don't stop and think about the record of the God who has worked in our past afflictions. We don't stop and think, as the psalmist is pointing out here, how this affliction is going to help us be better ministers to other people in the future who have experienced similar things. It's not going to make their affliction go away. but it is going to allow them and give them a place and give them, listen, a testimony from a real, live, breathing person who has gotten through this, that they got through it, and with God's help, I can get through it as well. So that's the big idea. The comfort God works in you is for the comfort of the saints. And we actually saw this, if you just back up a little bit to the last stanza, the psalmist in verse 67 talked about affliction. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. And then in verse 71, it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. So again, we don't need to have experienced it, but it certainly helps. And I think that elsewhere where the psalmist says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, among other things, what does that mean? It means this, taste of the goodness of the Lord when your soul is downcast. Taste of the goodness of the Lord and learn to lean on and listen, press into the Lord in times of affliction. When you feel like giving up, when you feel like all is lost, when you feel like you're suffocating, when you feel like you're drowning, when you feel like the grief and the pain and the anguish has just buried you and you can't go on, taste and see that the Lord is good because if you could taste the Lord in those times, then A, you've really tasted of the goodness of the Lord such that. When somebody else down the line is experiencing a similar thing, you could say experientially, I tasted of the Lord and it was good. His goodness is good. His loving kindness is good. His faithfulness is good. His love is better than life. It's not just a song. It's not just a cliche. It's not just something that I put on my T-shirt or tattoo on my arm. It's something that's deeply embedded in my heart and experience. This is the way that the Lord astounds us. He astounds us over and over and over again. Our suffering has a larger purpose than what God is doing in my own life. It has to do with what God is gonna do in the lives of others. So let me just give you five quick and dirty things that this says, okay? So five observations, if I could put it this way, on this idea that God uses the comfort that we gain through affliction to comfort others. Here's the first one, and we see it in verse 73. Number one, this is what we were made for. Look at verse 73. Your hands have made and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I might learn your commandments. There is sometimes in the scriptures what is called a merism, that's a literary device, where two things are said, two different phrases, two different words are used to describe the same thing. I don't think that's what's going on here with the two words made and fashioned. I think made is referring to God created us, he made us, okay? But this fashioned term, it's used elsewhere, and I won't bore you with the text addresses or go through them. But it has more of the idea of shaping and forming, and listen, giving contours to something that's already made. Think of refining. Think of shaping. Think of sanding off the rough edges, right? And when you think of this in the context of trials, this is exactly what's going on, okay? God is shaping and forming our constitution, our disposition. In other words, God, you have made me what I am. You have made us what we are by putting us in the crucibles of your choice. So it's not just, okay, he made us, he put our DNA, but then through his providence, listen, through his providence, he's transforming you into the image of Christ. Your experiences make up your identity, right? Your experiences make up your identity. They're part and parcel, part of the warp and woof of who you are. Your identity traits have been pounded out on the anvil of the crucibles of life. And that's what God is getting at here, and it's important then to remember that God not only shapes or determines who we are in his role as creator, but he shapes and forms who we are in his role of preserving providence, bringing trials along in your life. He's preparing us for something. He's always been preparing us for something. So how do you know if you'll get through a given crucible? Listen to me. How do you know if you'll get through a given trial? If you're in it. You say, that's weird. Well, no, no, no. Because my backdrop for understanding that is a sovereign God. and a sovereign God would never put you in something for nothing. Does that make sense? We don't believe in a laissez-faire God. Okay, that's not in his vocabulary, it's not in his theological dictionary. We don't believe, it's certainly not because it's a French word, we don't believe in a laissez-faire God, okay? We believe in a God that's very hands-on. In fact, this is an anthropomorphism, a God that is intricately involved in every detail of life. And He sovereignly puts you in a crucible, and that is evidence that He will bring you out, listen, in one way or another. I'm not promising you, nor is God, that you're gonna get out of it in the way you think. I'm certain that Job thought that the exit to his trials could have gone a thousand different ways. and didn't realize that it would go the way that it did. But whether he brings you into the eschaton through death, or the second coming of Jesus Christ, or he brings you through a trial, he's going to bring you out of the crucible. You'll never not get out of the crucible. unless you're an unbeliever. Then you will be in the eternal crucible for all of eternity. And if this is Daniel who wrote this, which is what I've submitted to you, I think it's really important because Daniel was not in a pleasant circumstance, was he? You say, well, he was getting all these promotions. Yeah, you think he wanted to be in Babylon? He didn't want to be in Babylon. He wanted to go back to his family, go back to his friends, go back to the holy land where the God of Yahweh reigned, okay? And he's getting promoted and promoted and he's finding favor with men. Oh, there was that incident when he got thrown into the lion's den. But he doesn't want to be there. It's unpleasant. But he realizes that the Lord has put him there. And so the psalmist says, in the latter half, verse 73, give me understanding that I might learn your commandments. I find this fascinating. In other words, you know what he's saying? God, help me to understand that you have fashioned me for this very thing. I want my life to be in conformity to what you want me to be. Okay, so the question is not, will God make me into this? The question is, will I comply? The question is not, will God make me into this? The question is, will I comply? God's gonna get his way. Right, it's like if you have small children, and you tell them to do something, and they're like, no, you're like, okay, well, it's just a matter of time until I impose my will on you, okay? So, you wanna do it the easy way, or you wanna do it the hard way? Okay, the application, it doesn't apply to teenagers, a little bit different with teenagers. Okay, but with God, what he's saying is, look, I'm gonna get my way. I'm gonna make you comply. I'm gonna bring your will into conformity with mine. Some of us may be kicking and screaming as he's doing it, right? but he's going to get his way. So give me understanding that I might learn your commandments. And this concept of understanding is crucially important because it leads to the learning. John Goldengate, an Old Testament scholar says this, listen, what you are willing to do is what decides what you are willing and able to see. I'm gonna read that again. What you are willing to do is what decides what you are willing and able to see. So often, whether it's in discipleship, counseling, whatever, or just people trying to lose weight. I mean, you take a mundane example. It's not that they can't do it, it's that they're unwilling to do it, right? I mean, you know, I saw a shirt one time that said, I really want a six pack. but I also really want tacos, you know what I'm saying? And I think that that is a good kind of life lesson, like what do you want more? What do you want more? What are you willing to sacrifice for it? This is where the learning comes in. What you are willing to see, more than likely, is what you're going to see. Now this isn't some self-help thing. In fact, Jesus says something like this in John 7, 17. You don't need to turn there. But he's talking to the Pharisees and they're saying, you know, you're saying you're from God, we don't accept your teaching. And at some point Jesus says this. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. Like this morning, I was saying, you wanna overcome your besetting sins? Do you want to overcome your besetting sins? I think that's the more important question. In John chapter five, when Jesus came up on. all these paralytics and people that were lame at the pool of Bethesda. And there was this man who had been paralyzed for many years, and he wanted to get into the water. But everybody, when he went to go get in the water, because the tradition was that if you get to the water in time, then you'll get blessed by an angel who will touch the water, and then you'll be healed. And he comes, and Jesus says, do you wish to be healed? And he says, Lord, every time I get up and I try to go to that water, everybody keeps crowding me in and I can't get there. Jesus didn't ask him, what are you going to do to get healed? He said, are you willing to be healed? Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be healed? And then once Jesus had his heart, he had his willingness, what did Jesus do? He just waved a magic wand over him and made him hold. No, he didn't do that. You know what he did next? He said, take up your mat and walk. He commanded. So he said, do I have your heart? Yes, do this. Okay, and then God does his part, you see? And that is such a perfect example of our sanctification. Hyper-Calvinists don't think that way. You know how hyper-Calvinists think? God's going to zap me. And until he zaps me, I'm just going along in God's providence. No, you're going along in sin. That's what you're doing. You must obey. You must work. You must buffet your body, as Paul says. In fact, Paul says in Colossians chapter one, he says, I'm working with all the energy that the Lord has worked in me. Isn't that a wonderful example of what the theologians called concursus? It's not 75% God, 25% me. It's 100% God and 100% me at the same time. God is working in my heart and I am working with the raw materials of what God has given me. But the question that begins it all is, are you willing? And so the psalmist says, give me understanding that I might learn your commandments. Here's the second thing. In verse 74, 79, and 80, I'm gonna read these. Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice because I have hoped in your word. Let those who fear you turn to me that they may know your testimonies. Verse 80, may my heart be blameless in your statutes that I may not be put to shame. Here's what we see here. May my life be a visual testimony to your faithfulness. And this is really the heart of what the psalmist is getting at. The psalmist is saying, he's not saying, I want them to see me so that my gifts and my skills and my obedience and my self-control would be put on display. No, he's saying, just like Jesus taught us, let them see your good works and what? Glorify your Father in heaven. So I want them to see God's glory refracted through this broken vessel, as it were. That's what he's saying. And there's a lot at stake, beloved. Listen, there's a lot at stake when you go through trials. There's a lot at stake when you go through trials. What other people thought about his response to affliction is one of the main things that kept Asaph from throwing it all away. In Psalm 73, Asaph is wrestling with why in the world he continues to be obedient to God, keep his hands clean, do all the purity stuff, and here he is being righteous, and then bad things are happening to him, and the wicked are being wicked, and good things are befalling them. And he's thinking, you know, I've kept my heart pure for nothing. Why am I doing this? And then at some point, listen, Psalm 73, 13 through 15, he says this. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. And then listen to verse 15. This is so incredibly important. If I had said I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. You know what he's getting at there? As I'm going, listen to me, as I'm going through this hard affliction, I need to stop for just a second, thinking about myself, and think about my children that are watching me. Who is going to commend faithfulness to the next generation of my family? Me, and my wife. If they don't see faithfulness in me, why in the world would they bother with this thing called Christianity? But we get so caught up in this is inconvenient for me. This is not fun. God, you didn't check my Google calendar to see if it was OK to just drop this bomb of affliction on me. I remember one time my wife was counseling a young lady who was going through some really, really hard. struggles, she was a college-age student, she was making bad decisions, I mean, really bad decisions as a professing Christian, and at some point, my wife, as a counselor, had to bring in her parents, which was not fun. Her dad was a principal at a high school, a Christian high school, and I'll never forget when she told me this. She said that when he came in, he seemed reluctant to be in the room in the first place. And at some point he said, I just don't have time for this. I just don't have time for this. Now just think about that for a second. Here a father is in a counseling room with his daughter who's making really, really bad decisions, getting her further and further away from Jesus. And because he's so busy as a school principal, he thinks he doesn't have time for his own daughter to speak into her life. Talk about a mismatch of priorities. We need to stop for a moment when we're going through affliction and not ask questions like, is this convenient for me? Guess what? I have a flash bulletin. Affliction's never convenient. It's never convenient. It's always going against the grain of our comfort, our convenience, and what we want to see happen in life. It's always gonna be that way. So people are watching how you go through trials, and it is not only good, but important that we remember that. How I respond says something to believer and unbeliever alike about which glory is more overpowering. Which one? The glory of convenience, a trouble-free life, a drama-free life, an ordinary run-of-the-mill life, or even a pleasure-filled life? Is that glory more important? Or is the glory of a God who is eternal and gives us blessed eternality in the eschaton more important? Which one is more important to us in the moment? Frankly, I'm tired of hearing off my own lips and on those of others, essentially, that this trial, this affliction, this crucible is not convenient. God, didn't you know that I had other plans? And I got to thinking, I got to thinking, I'm thinking especially of those with chronic pain. I'm thinking especially of those who are going through a really, really dark providence. Think about this for a second. What if, listen, what if, God is using your affliction to bring your children to Christ. What if he's doing that? I mean, think about it for a second. What if one of God's principle aims in giving you your afflictions, your chronic pain, is so that your kids would see you run to Jesus and his promises of the eschaton for comfort, that your kids say, I've seen comfort in pain and affliction that nothing in this world can offer I've seen my mom, I've seen my dad find joy and contentment in the midst of excruciating pain by just focusing on Jesus. By just focusing on the eschaton. And nothing in this world brought them to that disposition on their face of peace that I saw. And that makes me want to follow Jesus more than anything else in the world. What if that's what God is doing? What if that's what God is doing? Can I tell you something? That's something He's accustomed to doing. But on the other hand, if what they see when they look at you is, I don't have time for God. I will work God into my schedule. I will work devotion to God and faithfulness into God into my Google Calendar. They're gonna do the same thing. At least that's the way in which they'll be tempted. All right. I'm gonna stop there and we'll do the second half of this next week because I've already gone pretty far. But next week we'll consider verses 75 through 80. So let me just sum up here. I hope by God's grace that this gives us a different lens through which we view affliction. And if I could sum it up, not viewing affliction as inconvenience, but viewing affliction as opportunity. Opportunity to draw closer to the Lord. opportunity to be a blessing to others. When they come to us and they say, I'm dealing with X, and you're like, friend, I've been there, and I have something to say to you, okay? God was good for me, he was better for me than anything else that this world offered, and I chose him, and I would never change that decision for a million years. Many of you have been through affliction, and many of you have much to offer, and many of you have offered it. I would just say this lastly, for those of you that are going through a hard time, maybe you're younger in life, we have a deep bench of seasoned saints who have gone through hard struggles that if you could see their spiritual bodies, you would see scars all over them. You go to them. That's what the church is for. You go to them. You seek them out. And if you don't know who to seek out, come talk to me or Pastor Ken or Pastor Jim. We'll point you in the right direction. You go talk to them and they're gonna say in one chorus, Jesus is better. Jesus is better. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that Jesus is better and that we thank you for those moments of clarity when we're able to see that. And Father, in those moments of ambiguity, in those moments when things are as clear as mud, we pray that you would have mercy on us. And we pray that you would help us to see, lead us to the water, as blind as we are, as deaf as we are, as lame as we are. Lead us to the water, Father, the water of life that would remind us time and time again that you are doing something in our affliction. It's not for nothing. And help us, Father, to stop whining and complaining like we so often do, like little children who have never experienced the mercy and goodness of the Lord, for we have, Father. We have experienced it time and time again, and yet that is the one thing that often frustrates us, that though we have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, we think that we're never gonna see it again, and yet you surprise us one bomb at a time. Just drop bombs of blessing upon us, even though we don't deserve it. You are a good and gracious God, and we thank you that you have given us such goodness in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And it is in his name we pray, amen. All right, I've got a few prayer requests and then I want to hear from you.