Trouble and Distress have come upon me
Psalm 119:143 New International Version
143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight.
God never says anywhere in His word that following Him is easy. Jesus doesn’t say come follow me and live your best life now. He doesn’t say come follow me and live in continual comfort. The reality is when we follow God, we will face challenges and trials. We will face hardship and suffering. We must remember that we live behind enemy lines. When we come to Christ, we are a marked enemy of the devil and his demonic forces.
The word trouble here means hardship, anguish. — an oppressive state of physical, mental, social, or economic adversity.[1] The word distress means narrow; meager; restraint, anxiety; need, limited or below average in number, quantity, magnitude, or extent.[2] The psalmist begins with trouble and distress come upon me. When hardship, anguish, anxiety, great need come upon me. He is facing tangible things that are truly testing his faith in God. Many times, we may pray for God to deliver us from all hardship, but it is actually in the place where things are hard and difficult that our faith grows the greatest. Often it is hardship that is an invitation by Almighty God to greater intimacy.
But in the next line he says your commands are a delight to me. The word delight means desire, delight. Joy (source of) — something or someone that provides a source of happiness.[3] The truth is that our source of joy is the word of God. Psalm 119 is about the beauty and majesty of the word of God. Why we often struggle is when we get away from spending time in the word of God every day. What is the word of God? It is God revealing Himself to us through His character and nature. His word is filled with unshakable promises and when we spend time daily meditating on His word, regardless of our circumstances, we will find joy and strength.
What hard things are you facing? Have you distanced yourself from God and His word? Are you truly taking time each day to read and meditate upon His word? If your answer to the second and third question is yes, I would encourage you to reestablish your relationship with God. Set aside time in which it is just you and God and that He can reveal the deep things of His hear to you. Our lives greatly change when we truly invest in the study of God’s word.
Prayer
Father thank you for your promises. Thank you for your word. Thank you that you are always faithful. Thank you that you always have a plan. Deliver me this day from every scheme and purpose of the enemy. Help me to grow through the hard and difficult things. Help me to grow in greater intimacy with you. Guard my heart against the lies and deceptions of the enemy. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!
[1] Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
[2] Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
[3] Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
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