Psalm 119:67
Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your word.
Before I was afflicted
The phrase "Before I was afflicted" suggests a time prior to experiencing hardship or discipline. The Hebrew root for "afflicted" is "עָנָה" (anah), which can mean to be humbled or oppressed. In the biblical context, affliction often serves as a tool for spiritual growth and correction. Historically, the Israelites experienced affliction as a means of turning back to God, such as during their captivity in Egypt or the Babylonian exile. This phrase sets the stage for a personal testimony of transformation through divine discipline.

I went astray
"I went astray" indicates a deviation from the path of righteousness. The Hebrew word "שָׁגָה" (shagah) means to err or wander. This concept is prevalent throughout Scripture, where God's people are often depicted as sheep who have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). Theologically, this acknowledges human fallibility and the tendency to sin, emphasizing the need for divine guidance and correction.

but now
The phrase "but now" marks a pivotal transition, highlighting a change in the psalmist's life. It signifies a turning point, a moment of realization and transformation. This transition is crucial in the narrative of redemption, where past errors are acknowledged, and a new path is embraced. It reflects the grace and mercy of God, who allows for repentance and renewal.

I keep Your word
"I keep Your word" expresses a commitment to obedience and faithfulness. The Hebrew word "שָׁמַר" (shamar) means to guard, observe, or give heed. This phrase underscores the importance of Scripture as a guiding force in the believer's life. Historically, the Israelites were commanded to keep God's commandments as a covenantal obligation. In a broader scriptural context, keeping God's word is a sign of love and devotion, as seen in John 14:15, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." This commitment to God's word is the fruit of the affliction and the psalmist's return to the right path.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Psalmist
The author of Psalm 119, traditionally believed to be King David, who expresses a deep love for God's law and a desire for spiritual growth.

2. God
The divine being to whom the psalmist is speaking, seeking guidance, correction, and understanding.

3. Affliction
The period of suffering or hardship that the psalmist refers to, which serves as a turning point in his spiritual journey.

4. Israel
The nation often seen as the collective recipient of God's laws and teachings, frequently experiencing cycles of straying and returning to God.

5. The Word of God
The divine instructions, commandments, and teachings that the psalmist commits to following after experiencing affliction.
Teaching Points
The Purpose of Affliction
Affliction serves as a divine tool for correction and realignment with God's will. It is not merely punitive but redemptive, guiding us back to the path of righteousness.

The Role of God's Word
The Word of God is a steadfast guide that provides wisdom and direction. Post-affliction, the psalmist's commitment to keeping God's word highlights its importance in maintaining spiritual discipline.

Spiritual Growth through Trials
Trials and afflictions are opportunities for spiritual growth. They refine our character and deepen our relationship with God, leading to a more profound obedience and understanding of His will.

The Importance of Obedience
Obedience to God's word is a response to His love and discipline. It is through obedience that we experience the fullness of God's promises and blessings.

Reflection and Repentance
Times of affliction should lead to self-reflection and repentance. Recognizing our straying and returning to God is a crucial step in our spiritual journey.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of affliction in Psalm 119:67 relate to your personal experiences of hardship? Can you identify a time when a difficult situation led you back to God?

2. In what ways can you actively keep God's word in your daily life, especially after experiencing a period of straying or affliction?

3. How do other scriptures, such as Hebrews 12:5-11, enhance your understanding of the purpose of divine discipline?

4. Reflect on a time when you felt spiritually astray. What steps did you take to realign yourself with God's word, and what role did affliction play in that process?

5. How can you use the lessons from Psalm 119:67 to encourage someone else who may be experiencing a period of affliction or spiritual wandering?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Hebrews 12:5-11
This passage discusses the discipline of the Lord, emphasizing that God disciplines those He loves, which aligns with the psalmist's experience of affliction leading to obedience.

Proverbs 3:11-12
These verses highlight the importance of not despising the Lord's discipline, as it is a sign of His love and a means to correct and guide His children.

James 1:2-4
James speaks about considering trials as pure joy because they produce perseverance, maturity, and completeness, echoing the transformative power of affliction mentioned in Psalm 119:67.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Paul discusses his "thorn in the flesh" and how God's grace is sufficient, showing how personal weaknesses and afflictions can lead to greater reliance on God.
The Fruits of Sanctified AfflictionT. Swan.Psalm 119:67
The Moral Service of AfflictionR. Tuck Psalm 119:67
Characteristics of the Word of God as Declared by the Various Names Given to it in This PsalmS. Conway Psalm 119:1-176
Introductory to Whole PsalmS. Conway Psalm 119:1-176
A Good ManHomilistPsalm 119:65-67
Good JudgmentPsalm 119:65-67
The Blessed Effects of AfflictionS. Conway Psalm 119:65-72
People
Heth, Nun, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Afflicted, Astray, Err, Erring, Kept, Obey, Observe, Saying, Trouble
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 119:67

     4019   life, believers' experience
     5290   defeat
     5565   suffering, of believers
     5568   suffering, causes
     8231   discipline, divine
     8349   spiritual growth, means of

Psalm 119:67-71

     5881   immaturity

Library
Notes on the First Century:
Page 1. Line 1. An empty book is like an infant's soul.' Here Traherne may possibly have had in his mind a passage in Bishop Earle's "Microcosmography." In delineating the character of a child, Earle says: "His soul is yet a white paper unscribbled with observations of the world, wherewith at length it becomes a blurred note-book," Page 14. Line 25. The entrance of his words. This sentence is from Psalm cxix. 130. Page 15. Last line of Med. 21. "Insatiableness." This word in Traherne's time was often
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

Life Hid and not Hid
'Thy word have I hid in my heart.'--PSALM cxix. 11. 'I have not hid Thy righteousness in my heart.'--PSALM xl. 10. Then there are two kinds of hiding--one right and one wrong: one essential to the life of the Christian, one inconsistent with it. He is a shallow Christian who has no secret depths in his religion. He is a cowardly or a lazy one, at all events an unworthy one, who does not exhibit, to the utmost of his power, his religion. It is bad to have all the goods in the shop window; it is just
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Cleansed Way
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.'--PSALM cxix. 9. There are many questions about the future with which it is natural for you young people to occupy yourselves; but I am afraid that the most of you ask more anxiously 'How shall I make my way?' than 'How shall I cleanse it?' It is needful carefully to ponder the questions: 'How shall I get on in the world--be happy, fortunate?' and the like, and I suppose that that is the consideration
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Time for Thee to Work'
'It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy Law. 127. Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. 128. Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.' --PSALM cxix. 126-128. If much that we hear be true, a society to circulate Bibles is a most irrational and wasteful expenditure of energy and money. We cannot ignore the extent and severity of the opposition to the very idea of revelation, even if we would;
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Stranger in the Earth
'I am a stranger in the earth: hide not Thy commandments from me.... 64. The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy: teach me Thy statutes.' --PSALM cxix. 19, 64. There is something very remarkable in the variety-in-monotony of this, the longest of the psalms. Though it be the longest it is in one sense the simplest, inasmuch as there is but one thought in it, beaten out into all manner of forms and based upon all various considerations. It reminds one of the great violinist who out of one string managed
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

May the Fourth a Healthy Palate
"How sweet are Thy words unto my taste." --PSALM cxix. 97-104. Some people like one thing, and some another. Some people appreciate the bitter olive; others feel it to be nauseous. Some delight in the sweetest grapes; others feel the sweetness to be sickly. It is all a matter of palate. Some people love the Word of the Lord; to others the reading of it is a dreary task. To some the Bible is like a vineyard; to others it is like a dry and tasteless meal. One takes the word of the Master, and it
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Inward Witness to the Truth of the Gospel.
"I have more understanding than my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my study; I am wiser than the aged, because I keep Thy commandments."--Psalm cxix. 99, 100. In these words the Psalmist declares, that in consequence of having obeyed God's commandments he had obtained more wisdom and understanding than those who had first enlightened his ignorance, and were once more enlightened than he. As if he said, "When I was a child, I was instructed in religious knowledge by kind and pious friends, who
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

A Bottle in the Smoke
First, God's people have their trials--they get put in the smoke; secondly, God's people feel their trials--they "become like a bottle in the smoke;" thirdly, God's people do not forget God's statutes in their trials--"I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes." I. GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE THEIR TRIALS. This is an old truth, as old as the everlasting hills, because trials were in the covenant, and certainly the covenant is as old as the eternal mountains. It was never designed
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Dryness of Preachers, and the Various Evils which Arise from their Failing to Teach Heart-Prayer --Exhortation to Pastors to Lead People Towards this Form Of
If all those who are working for the conquest of souls sought to win them by the heart, leading them first of all to prayer and to the inner life, they would see many and lasting conversions. But so long as they only address themselves to the outside, and instead of drawing people to Christ by occupying their hearts with Him, they only give them a thousand precepts for outward observances, they will see but little fruit, and that will not be lasting. When once the heart is won, other defects are
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

Of Deeper Matters, and God's Hidden Judgments which are not to be Inquired Into
"My Son, beware thou dispute not of high matters and of the hidden judgments of God; why this man is thus left, and that man is taken into so great favour; why also this man is so greatly afflicted, and that so highly exalted. These things pass all man's power of judging, neither may any reasoning or disputation have power to search out the divine judgments. When therefore the enemy suggesteth these things to thee, or when any curious people ask such questions, answer with that word of the Prophet,
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Seven-Fold Joy
"Seven times a day do I praise Thee because of Thy righteous judgments."--Ps. cxix. 164. Mechthild of Hellfde, 1277. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 I bring unto Thy grace a seven-fold praise, Thy wondrous love I bless-- I praise, remembering my sinful days, My worthlessness. I praise that I am waiting, Lord, for Thee, When, all my wanderings past, Thyself wilt bear me, and wilt welcome me To home at last. I praise Thee that for Thee I long and pine, For Thee I ever yearn; I praise Thee that such
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

And in Jeremiah He Thus Declares his Death and Descent into Hell...
And in Jeremiah He thus declares His death and descent into hell, saying: And the Lord the Holy One of Israel, remembered his dead, which aforetime fell asleep in the dust of the earth; and he went down unto them, to bring the tidings of his salvation, to deliver them. [255] In this place He also renders the cause of His death: for His descent into hell was the salvation of them that had passed away. And, again, concerning His cross Isaiah says thus: I have stretched out my hands all the day long
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

The Christian Described
HAPPINESS OF THE CHRISTIAN O HOW happy is he who is not only a visible, but also an invisible saint! He shall not be blotted out the book of God's eternal grace and mercy. DIGNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN There are a generation of men in the world, that count themselves men of the largest capacities, when yet the greatest of their desires lift themselves no higher than to things below. If they can with their net of craft and policy encompass a bulky lump of earth, Oh, what a treasure have they engrossed
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

Excursus on the Choir Offices of the Early Church.
Nothing is more marked in the lives of the early followers of Christ than the abiding sense which they had of the Divine Presence. Prayer was not to them an occasional exercise but an unceasing practice. If then the Psalmist sang in the old dispensation "Seven times a day do I praise thee" (Ps. cxix. 164), we may be quite certain that the Christians would never fall behind the Jewish example. We know that among the Jews there were the "Hours of Prayer," and nothing would be, à priori, more
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

The Daily Walk with Others (I. ).
When the watcher in the dark Turns his lenses to the skies, Suddenly the starry spark Grows a world upon his eyes: Be my life a lens, that I So my Lord may magnify We come from the secrecies of the young Clergyman's life, from his walk alone with God in prayer and over His Word, to the subject of his common daily intercourse. Let us think together of some of the duties, opportunities, risks, and safeguards of the ordinary day's experience. A WALK WITH GOD ALL DAY. A word presents itself to be
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

The Talking Book
In order that we may be persuaded so to do, Solomon gives us three telling reasons. He says that God's law, by which I understand the whole run of Scripture, and, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be a guide to us:--"When thou goest, it shall lead thee." It will be a guardian to us: "When thou sleepest"--when thou art defenceless and off thy guard--"it shall keep thee." And it shall also be a dear companion to us: "When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Any one of these three arguments
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

How to Read the Bible
I. That is the subject of our present discourse, or, at least the first point of it, that IN ORDER TO THE TRUE READING OF THE SCRIPTURES THERE MUST BE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THEM. I scarcely need to preface these remarks by saying that we must read the Scriptures. You know how necessary it is that we should be fed upon the truth of Holy Scripture. Need I suggest the question as to whether you do read your Bibles or not? I am afraid that this is a magazine reading age a newspaper reading age a periodical
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 25: 1879

The Obedience of Faith
"Is there a heart that will not bend To thy divine control? Descend, O sovereign love, descend, And melt that stubborn soul! " Surely, though we have had to mourn our disobedience with many tears and sighs, we now find joy in yielding ourselves as servants of the Lord: our deepest desire is to do the Lord's will in all things. Oh, for obedience! It has been supposed by many ill-instructed people that the doctrine of justification by faith is opposed to the teaching of good works, or obedience. There
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Faith
HABAKKUK, ii. 4. "The just shall live by faith." This is those texts of which there are so many in the Bible, which, though they were spoken originally to one particular man, yet are meant for every man. These words were spoken to Habakkuk, a Jewish prophet, to check him for his impatience under God's hand; but they are just as true for every man that ever was and ever will be as they were for him. They are world-wide and world-old; they are the law by which all goodness, and strength, and safety,
Charles Kingsley—Twenty-Five Village Sermons

What the Truth Saith Inwardly Without Noise of Words
Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.(1) I am Thy servant; O give me understanding that I may know Thy testimonies. Incline my heart unto the words of Thy mouth.(2) Let thy speech distil as the dew. The children of Israel spake in old time to Moses, Speak thou unto us and we will hear, but let not the Lord speak unto us lest we die.(3) Not thus, O Lord, not thus do I pray, but rather with Samuel the prophet, I beseech Thee humbly and earnestly, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Let not Moses
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

That the Body and Blood of Christ and the Holy Scriptures are Most Necessary to a Faithful Soul
The Voice of the Disciple O most sweet Lord Jesus, how great is the blessedness of the devout soul that feedeth with Thee in Thy banquet, where there is set before it no other food than Thyself its only Beloved, more to be desired than all the desires of the heart? And to me it would verily be sweet to pour forth my tears in Thy presence from the very bottom of my heart, and with the pious Magdalene to water Thy feet with my tears. But where is this devotion? Where the abundant flowing of holy
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

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