“It is good for me that I was afflicted. that I may learn your statutes.” (Psalm 119:71, NASB).

You probably have never experienced problems or sickness and said to yourself, “That was good!”  Sure, we’re taught that the problems of life can work for our good (see Romans 8:28), but we still don’t like to have problems. We don’t like to be hurt or sick. We don’t rejoice about affliction!

If we’re happy in the Lord, usually it’s because we’ve been blessed; it’s because something good happened.

We think it is good for good things to happen but we don’t think it is so good for bad things to happen. In fact, we gripe and complain when affliction occurs and we certainly don’t think affliction is good for us, as the Psalmist declares in this verse.

But, in life both good and bad things happen to us. And, the child of God can rejoice in both the good and the bad.

God teaches us through our affliction. We learn to trust God and His promises. We learn to live according to God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

For the child of God, good is certainly good, but bad can be good, also!

 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen;. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, NASB)