This final episode merges the lessons of affliction learned by the psalmist with the role of discipline spelled out in Hebrews 12:4-13. Affliction/discipline are the divinely sanctioned means of conforming believers into the image of Christ. Just as the psalmist didn't wholeheartedly follow God and His Law without affliction, so Christians don't surrender fully to the Lordship of Christ without discipline and affliction. The results, according to Hebrews 12:10-11, are very consequential: sharing in God's holiness as we enjoy the "peaceful fruit of righteousness." This is the New Testament equivalent to the psalmist's plea that God establish his ways to keep God's statutes. (Psalm 119:5) So when Christians affirm their desire to be like Christ (establish their ways), they shouldn't be surprised when God answers through affliction.
Don’t Despise the Divine Whipping
Psalm 119:75 states "in faithfulness You have afflicted me." This odd statement by the psalmist makes sense because the psalmist, like all sinners, didn't naturally obey God's law and was prone to going the wrong direction. Put together with the psalmist's previous comment, that before he was afflicted, he went astray (Psalm 119:67), God demonstrates His love and faithfulness by afflicting the psalmist to correct the error of his destructive ways. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is destruction." (Proverbs 14:12) This dynamic certainly applies to believers, who though they are regenerate children of God, they nevertheless require periodic scourging to discipline their unruly flesh. "He scourges every son whom he receives." (Hebrews 12:6) The net effect of affliction should be practical holiness, the keeping of God's Law. "He disciplines us for our good that we might share in His holiness." (Hebrews 12:10) So the psalmist declared, "before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word."
Affliction Leading to Awe of God and His Law
This episode takes the central theme of Psalm 119, "oh that my ways may be established to keep your statutes," and applies it to Christian sanctification. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit conforming us into the image of Christ: He gradually conforms our condition with our perfect position in Christ. With respect to the believer's attitude and obedience to the Law, the Holy Spirit cultivates the inner delight of God's law in the inner man (Romans 7:22), making it the governing disposition of the soul, where we love God (and His Law) with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Psalm 119 describes affliction as one of the means God uses to force the issue of holistic delight in God's Law. Similarly, the Holy Spirit orchestrates affliction to push the urgency of sanctification, hopefully leading to a more exhaustive embrace of God and His Law. God intends that affliction graduate the believer from simply parroting God's Law into apprehending the "why" of God's Law, leading to delight.
Affliction: When God Speaks Loud
This episode addresses the impasse that many believers discover in sanctification: they agree and delight with the Law of God in the inner man, but they're really not convinced that God's way is better. While many would give lip service to the Scriptural claim that sin leads to corruption (Gal 6:8), many are not really convinced. The apparent consequences of sin are ignored or considered tolerable. So unless God reveals that sowing to the flesh really does lead to corruption, we likely continue in sin. This dynamic is typical for every believer undergoing sanctification, and the answer to this predicament is the same as the psalmist in Psalm 119. "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." (Psalm 119:67) Affliction is the God-given means to destroy the self-delusions that sin is tolerable and/or that sin is without painful consequences. And, affliction is God's answer to the psalmist's prayer that his ways be established to keep God's statutes. (Psalm 119:5) The Holy Spirit, who always intercedes according to the perfect will of God, pleads the same petition, sometimes resulting in pain in the lives of believers. Is it possible that believers' lack of conviction that God's way is better, requiring affliction as the remedy, is the reason why Paul declared "we do not know how to pray as we ought..?" (Rom. 8:26)
Establish Me…with Affliction?
This episode introduces the role of affliction in assisting believers to more profoundly embrace God's law to the point of delight. "Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep your word." (Psalm 119:67) Affliction effectively grabbed the psalmist's attention, who left his wayward ways behind, after he was afflicted. Very likely the psalmist knew about God's Law, but his understanding was shallow. Until he meditated on God's Law, he would never graduate beyond mere surface acquaintance. Meditation, "chewing the cud," enables the believer to gain God's perspective on the Law leading to delight. Affliction is one of the mechanisms that God used in the psalmist's life to answer his petition in verse 5, "oh that my ways may be established to keep your statutes.