“I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me” (Psalm 119:75)

Not only am I a sinner, I am a repeat sinner.

It’s not that I haven’t been forgiven, justified, and made new. All that is true. It happened. It happened when I received Jesus as Lord and Savior. All was made new. All that is old has passed. I have been made a creation.

All that is true. But until Christ returns, I am still in this body, in this flesh. And as long as I am in this flesh, I will continue to struggle with sin.

That’s the reason why in God’s faithfulness God’s word afflicts me. Something would be terribly wrong if God’s word only affirmed, accepted, validated a repeat sinner.

God doesn’t afflict to punish. God’s truth and word afflicts in order to tell us what’s wrong so that we can seek God and his forgiveness.

When you put your hand on something sharp or hot, the pain that sears through your hand is a warning. And that warning is a good thing. It tells you to stop before you really hurt yourself. Imagine if there was no warning sign. Imagine you just kept pressing on a blade or kept your hand on a hot stove.

That’s what God’s word does for us. God’s word afflicts us so that we can stop before we really hurt ourselves and others.

A false gospel is one that never offends; one that never afflicts a repeat sinner.

Thank God for his affliction.

“My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word” (Psalm 119:28).

We can be astoundingly consistent and persistent in yearning and longing for sin. We promise never again. We insist that we will pursue God and his righteousness with all our heart. And a few minutes after we’ve prayed that, something triggers and we’re right back to square one with our sin and temptation.

Gee.

I wish I could tell you the secret to overcoming this.

If you know how, PLEASE tell me how!

What is truly amazing about God is his faithfulness and steadfast love for repeat, rebellious sinners like you and me. You see, his love and faithfulness toward us doesn’t depend on us. It has everything to do with who God is and his character. Because God is God, because God is loving, because God is kind, because God is faithful he forgives and he loves.

How do we know this? The Bible tells us about God’s character.

So when you find yourself in a bout of depression and sorrow, turn to God’s word and find rest.

For the Christian, a failure is never failure as long as the Christian never quits repenting and striving after God.

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9).

Just because the verse refers to a young person, don’t let that be a turn off. The issue is not whether one is young or old. The purpose of this teaching is for giving guidance and wisdom regarding purity.

The Hebrew word for purity means “to be clear, clean, or pure” in a moral sense. It means to be blameless, untarnished, without impurity.

Notice that purity is not a destination or a particular stop on the journey of life. Purity is to be pursued during the course or the path of life.

So how can one stay on the path of purity? By living according to God’s word.

The thing is every single one of us is going to fail in this endeavor. We are going to wander, go astray, and leave the path. That’s going to happen. But what ultimately matters is not whether we fail, but whether we choose to get back on the pathway. That’s what matters.

God’s word gives us the compass heading. God’s truth shows us the path we are to follow. People will stray. We all do. But what matters is not that we stray, but that we get back on the path to pursue God and his truths revealed in God’s word.