Affliction

Psalm 119:65-72 

Teth

 ⁶⁵ Do good to your servant
       according to your word, O LORD. 
 ⁶⁶ Teach me knowledge and good judgment,
       for I believe in your commands.
 ⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,
       but now I obey your word.
 ⁶⁸ You are good, and what you do is good;
       teach me your decrees.
 ⁶⁹ Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies,
       I keep your precepts with all my heart.
 ⁷⁰ Their hearts are callous and unfeeling,
       but I delight in your law.
 ⁷¹ It was good for me to be afflicted
       so that I might learn your decrees.
 ⁷² The law from your mouth is more precious to me
       than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

Strange as it may seem, affliction can be good for you.

The word "afflicted" is mentioned twice in this passage, and I was curious to see what it meant. I first looked it up in the dictionary, but still felt a little unsatisfied. I then decided to look the word up in the original Hebrew, and found additional meaning that was only alluded to in the dictionary. That additional meaning was the aspect of being humbled. So to put things together, "affliction" would mean something similar to "painful humbling".

In both occurrences of the word, it is mentioned in a positive sense because it was this affliction that led the psalmist to a greater appreciation of God's law. He states that he was "astray" before the affliction, sort of wandering away from God, but the affliction brought that wandering to an end.

I can't help but think that if he had not gone astray that the affliction would not have been necessary. So, the key here is that if we stay close to God, and do not go astray, this affliction can be avoided. We have two choices, we can humble [afflict] ourselves, or God can do it for us. However, if/when God does this we can rejoice because we know that the end result is a greater appreciation for His law and a closer relationship with Him.