Is Affliction Good?

Affliction.

What a striking word, and the Bible uses it quite a bit.

Something negative or hard or challenging or painful has happened in my life. I have an affliction; I’m going through affliction.

But, I come to some verses in Psalm 119 that really stun me:

“It was good for me that I was afflicted, so that I might learn Your ways” or “in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”

I mean, really!?

I actually think I’m coming around to it. Afflictions in my life have not been good. But, I’ve learned and grown through them.

The Psalmist continues: “Let Your steadfast love comfort me.”

I wonder: would I know God’s love always reaches low into the shadows of life without being there to experience it myself? Could I encourage others that deeply without my afflictions?

Well, as for me, I guess it’s good in a strange, Christian way, that God has brought me into and through affliction with stories of His unfailing love to share.