The first half of this eleventh stanza was pretty bleak and full of despair. But as it comes to an end, the psalmist seems to turn a corner. Take a look at the latter half of this passage in Psalm 119:85-88:

The psalmist seems to be very depressed. In the first half of the stanza, he wrote of his persecutors and enemies with a bleakness that isn’t matched elsewhere in Psalm 119. And this second half still carries some of those low notes. His enemies have dug pitfalls for him, in order to trap him. He is being persecuted without cause, to the point where he feels like he has nowhere left to run, perhaps even to the point of death.

Those are difficult statements to read, or to hear. But these are probably not foreign thoughts to our own thinking either. In our case, especially in western culture, persecution may not come from specific people, although that is becoming more and more likely, I believe. Our culture has become, and is continuing to become, increasingly intolerant of Christianity. You can see this in the blatant attacks from those who oppose Christianity against those who stand upon their convictions and the principles of our faith.

The eleventh stanza of Psalm 119 is perhaps the most bleak portion of the entire chapter. You can see what I mean in Psalm 119:81-84:

At this point in Psalm 119, we are almost to the halfway point, and it seems as if the psalmist is in his darkest moments. And yet, the end of this dark and hopeless stanza gives us a glimpse of hope yet to come, which we will look at more closely next week.

This passage, in verse 84, is the first verse that does not contain one of the terms used for God’s Word throughout Psalm 119. I think that is significant. Very often, in our darkest moments, we can easily lose sight of what God may be doing, feeling bleak despair and hopelessness. That may be where the psalmist finds himself as well, losing sight of the promises of God due to the dark circumstances facing him at this moment.

These four verses contain a lot of information about those who are persecuting the author, and causing his distress and suffering. These enemies of this man of God seem to be completely occupying his thoughts. I know this is true for me, and I suspect it is for you as well. When things are going wrong, they consume our minds, they are all we can think about, and we worry ourselves to the point of exhaustion in the process.

The tenth stanza of Psalm 119 contains some interesting insights into the nature of suffering and affliction. We began to see in the first half where such things come from. In this passage, we continue that thought. Take a look at this passage in Psalm 119:77-80:

This stanza is the tenth part of Psalm 119, and focuses on the source of our suffering and affliction. The psalmist expresses his desire to learn from such times, and specifically mentions four things that he has come to understand. Two of these we looked at in last week’s passage, the remaining two are our focus for today.

In the first half of the stanza, the psalmist expressed his understanding and his belief that, first of all, God is faithful in all things, even in – especially in – affliction and suffering. Second, he shared the insight that God’s love is unfailing, and it brings comfort during such times. We can rest assured that God is focused on what is best for us, and draw comfort in the fact of his love.

The last couple of stanzas of Psalm 119 have dealt with affliction. But where does this come from? That’s the topic of the tenth stanza, the one that begins with the Hebrew letter yodh. You can see the first half of this stanza in Psalm 119:73-76:

The tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is yodh is the smallest of letters, and it takes just a simple stroke of the pen to form. This is probably the letter Jesus had in mind when he stated in Matthew 5:18, that “not the smallest letter, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law.” It is a small letter, and it is the letter that begins this tenth stanza of Psalm 119, but the import of this section of the psalm is by no means small. It may be one of the most significant, especially in this section that deals with affliction.

We will break this stanza into two sections in order to memorize it, but it flows together very tightly as a whole. The past few stanzas have dwelt on the topic of affliction, and have hinted at the source. But right here, the psalmist reveals the source of his affliction, and it is God himself. Look again at verse 75:

I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

God is the source of the affliction. But before we dig to deeply into that, we need to back up a bit. In the first verse of this stanza, the psalmist speaks of being made and formed. This brings to mind the passage from Jeremiah 1:5, where God states, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Even more so, it brings to mind images from the creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2, where God created the earth and everything in it.

The first half of this stanza, in verses 65-88, the psalmist began to examine the goodness of God in the midst of suffering. In this second half, we will see two more examples of God’s goodness. Take at look at this passage in Psalm 119:69-72:

While this theme of suffering and affliction will carry on through the next two stanzas, this ninth stanza centers the subject properly in the goodness of God. It is impossible to understand affliction properly without understanding, at least as much as possible, the goodness of God. Otherwise, we will fall into hopelessness and despair. Only with a proper perspective of the goodness of God can we see clearly to navigate the badness of a fallen world.

This knowledge of God’s goodness brings us to obey and understand the Word of God. The psalmist stressed obedience to God’s Word in verse 67, and here, in verse 71, he stresses an understanding of Scripture. Those might seem to be be reversed, but in actuality, they are not. What the psalmist is saying here is that his affliction caused him to turn to God’s Word, and to obey it. As he read and studied it, it led to a deeper and more full understanding of it, which in turn led to a more complete obedience. It’s an ever deepening cycle.

In the first half of this passage, the psalmist used the word “good” in three separate statements, revealing that God uses our sufferings to our own benefit because of his goodness. In this passage, we find two more of these statements in verses 71 and 72.