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Psalm 119:71

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.

69The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.
70Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.
71It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.
72The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. YODH
73Your hands have made me and formed me. Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.
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← Psalm 119:70Psalm 119:72 →
Notice

“It is good for me” is a hard claim to make about affliction; the psalmist ties that good to learning God's statutes through what he suffered.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What, if anything, has hardship changed about your desire to learn God's statutes?

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What would make the psalmist's words “It is good for me” hard for you to say?

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How does the mention of lies in verse 69 shape your reading of this claim?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Genesis 50:20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.Both speakers recognize good through suffering: Joseph names the saving of lives, while the psalmist names learning God's statutes.
Hebrews 12:10–11For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.Both describe benefit through hardship: the psalm names learning God's statutes, and Hebrews names sharing in God's holiness through discipline.
Psalm 119:67Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I observe your word.Both verses connect affliction with God's word: verse 67 describes observing it, and verse 71 describes learning God's statutes.
1 Corinthians 11:32But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.Both describe benefit through hardship, though Paul names the Lord's discipline against condemnation and the psalmist names learning God's statutes.
Psalm 94:12–13Blessed is the man whom you discipline, LORD, and teach out of your law,Both connect hardship with learning God's instruction; Psalm 94 names discipline and teaching from God's law as a blessing.
James 1:12Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.Both speak of good amid difficulty, though James names enduring temptation and receiving life, while the psalm names learning through affliction.
Lamentations 3:27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.Both call a hard experience good: the psalm names affliction that teaches, while Lamentations names bearing a yoke in youth.
2 Corinthians 4:17For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,Both describe affliction producing good, with the psalm naming learning God's statutes and Paul naming an eternal weight of glory.
Psalm 119:45I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts.Both value God's instruction: one links learning his statutes with affliction, and the other links seeking his precepts with liberty.
Hebrews 12:6for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.”Both connect hardship with life before God; Hebrews names the Lord's loving discipline, while the psalm names learning his statutes.
Matthew 20:34Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.Both passages concern people who suffer; the psalm speaks of learning through affliction, while Matthew describes healing and following Jesus.
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 119:69–73 and underline what the psalmist values

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Encouragement

You need not force a quick verdict on your suffering. The psalmist names a good he has found within affliction: learning the statutes of God.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 119:71. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 119 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).