“I know, O LORD, that your judgments are right and that you in faithfulness have afflicted me. Let, I pray you, your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to your word to your servant.” Psalm 119:75-76

Are you suffering? Are you facing hardships and difficulties in your life? Do you know pain and heartache all too well?

As Christians, we learn from God’s Word that His judgments are always right — God makes no mistakes in His dealings with us. When He afflicts us and chastens us, He is being faithful to us, as a loving Father.

You need not feel that God has forgotten about you, or that you are suffering wrongfully. God has a purpose and a plan, and He is working for your good (cf. Rom. 8:28; Heb. 12:3-11).

Peter writes: “Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator” (1 Pet. 4:19).

In our suffering, we can also find comfort! That comfort lies in the “merciful kindness” of our God. Even in our suffering, God has not dealt with us as we deserve. As the Scripture says, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so is his mercy great toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10-12; cf. Lam. 3:21-23).

Instead of punishing us for our sins, God laid them upon His own Son, Jesus Christ, and punished Him in our stead. Our sins were punished upon Jesus’ cross, and Jesus’ resurrection on the third day proves that atonement was made and that we may find forgiveness for all our sins and life everlasting through faith in Jesus’ name (cf. Isa. 53:6; Rom. 4:23 — 5:2).

So, dear Christian, take comfort! God is being merciful and kind to you even in your suffering!

O faithful and merciful Father, grant us forgiveness and life through faith in Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and comfort us in our afflictions with the knowledge that You are doing what is good and right for us and will lead us safely through this life to yourself in heaven. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]