Psalm 119:73-80

1 Peter 4:19 says “Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”  That is what the Psalmist is doing in this stanza.

There are times when our response to affliction seems to question whether or not God knows what He is doing.  In fact, any time people ask, “How can a loving God do this or that”, they cast doubt that God is the Creator.  The Creator should know better than to allow wrongful treatment of those He has made (v78).  

Sometimes when people hear this charge made against God they defend God by denying He had anything to do with the affliction.  But that is not the case with the Psalmist.  He affirms, God’s judgments have been right as He has afflicted the believer (v75).

Some may think that this presents God as harsh or cruel, but such is not the case.  It is this faith in a faithful Creator that gives rise to the 5 requests prayed in vs. 76-80.

·        76: he prays that the Creator will be faithful to His word, and will thus be mercifully kind to His servant.  Unlike the gods men devise, the faithful Creator not only afflicts us; He can be counted on to comfort us so we are benefitted.

·        77: he prays that the tender mercies of the Creator will enable him to live.  He knows our need and thus afflicts us accordingly.  But He also knows our limitations and is the cause of comfort and mercy.  (1 Cor. 10:13 and 1 John 1:9 are 2 of many examples of the way God shows mercy in affliction.)

·        78: he prays that the proud, who are used by God in the affliction, will come to be ashamed of their actions.

·       79: he prays to be surrounded by those who fear God rather than by the proud.

·       80: he prays that in his trial he will not be ashamed by disobedience or failure to learn God’s statutes.

All these requests are based in the thought that God is our faithful Creator in time of trial.  In this way we are like our Lord Jesus Christ Who, when suffering on the cross, “committed Himself to Him who judged righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).  

 God made you.  He knows you.  He is faithful in your affliction!