Can Something Painful Still Teach Me Something Good?

 GOOD MORNING WITH GOD | Psalm 119, Eight Verses at a Time #9

TETH ט | Psalm 119:65–72

Some lessons are learned in places I would never have chosen.

If I could arrange my life exactly as I wanted, I would probably choose the easier road.

Fewer disappointments.

Fewer mistakes.

Less uncertainty.

Less pain.

And yet, when I look back, some of the seasons that changed me most were not the ones I would have willingly chosen.

That is why Psalm 119:65–72 made me stop.

“Before I Was Afflicted…”

The psalmist says:

“Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.”
— Psalm 119:67

And a few verses later:

“It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.”
— Psalm 119:71

That is a difficult sentence.

I don’t think I can read it casually.

The psalmist is not standing outside someone else’s suffering and telling them:

“This is good for you.”

He is looking back at his own experience and recognizing something God taught him through it.

That distinction matters to me.

There are painful things I would never call good.

Loss hurts.

Betrayal hurts.

Illness hurts.

Disappointment hurts.

The Bible does not require me to pretend pain doesn’t hurt.

But perhaps something painful can still become a place where God teaches me something good.

The Pain and the Good Are Not the Same Thing

Verse 68 gives me an important anchor:

“You are good, and what you do is good;
teach me your decrees.”

The center of this passage is not:

Suffering is good.

The center is:

God is good.

Those are not the same statement.

And I think I need to keep that distinction.

When something difficult happens, I may not understand why.

I may not be able to explain it.

I may never call the experience itself good.

But I can still ask:

God, can You teach me here?

Not because pain automatically produces wisdom.

Pain can also make me angry, afraid, bitter, or closed.

But when I bring that pain before God, perhaps He can use even a place I would never have chosen to shape something in me.

Sometimes I See Differently Afterwards

There are things I understand differently only because I have lived through something.

I may become more compassionate because I now know what hurt feels like.

I may become slower to judge because I realize how complicated someone’s story can be.

I may pray differently because I discovered that I cannot control everything.

I may treasure ordinary days because I know they are not guaranteed.

I may understand a Scripture differently because I needed it rather than simply studied it.

None of that makes the painful thing itself beautiful.

But perhaps God can bring something beautiful through it.

“Teach Me”

Something else repeats through this stanza.

Verse 66:

“Teach me knowledge and good judgment…”

Verse 68:

“Teach me your decrees.”

Verse 71:

“…so that I might learn your decrees.”

The psalmist is becoming teachable.

Maybe that is one of the quiet transformations happening here.

Difficulty has made him ask different questions.

Not only:

How do I get out of this?

But also:

What can I learn here?

I find that challenging.

Because when something hurts, my first prayer is naturally:

Lord, please fix this.

And I think that is an honest prayer.

But perhaps another prayer can slowly grow beside it:

Lord, while I am here, teach me.

When Other People Misunderstand Me

The psalmist’s difficulty also seems to involve other people.

“Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies,
I keep your precepts with all my heart.”
— Psalm 119:69

That kind of suffering can be especially difficult.

When someone misunderstands me.

Misrepresents me.

Says something that isn’t true.

My instinct may be to spend enormous energy correcting how I am seen.

But the psalmist turns again toward God’s Word.

Not because truth doesn’t matter.

But because another person’s opinion does not have to become the center of his life.

There is something freeing in that.

Better Than Thousands of Pieces of Silver and Gold

Then this stanza ends with a surprising comparison:

“The law from your mouth is more precious to me
than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”
— Psalm 119:72

After suffering, learning, lies, and correction, the psalmist arrives here:

God’s Word has become more valuable to me.

Maybe that is one of the deepest things hardship can reveal.

What actually holds me when everything else feels uncertain?

What becomes precious when the things I normally depend upon cannot help me?

Sometimes we don’t discover the weight of something until we have needed it.

And perhaps that is what happened here.

God’s Word was no longer merely something the psalmist knew.

It had become something he had needed.

And therefore something he treasured.

Looking Back Differently

There may be seasons in my life that I would never choose to repeat.

I don’t need to rename them as wonderful experiences.

But perhaps, with time, I may be able to look back and notice:

God met me there.

I learned something there.

Something in me changed there.

His Word became more precious there.

And maybe that is different from saying:

The pain was good.

It is saying:

God was still good, even there.

A Question to Carry With Me

Is there a difficult season I can now look back on and recognize something God taught me through it?

One Small Practice

Think of one difficult season from your past.

Don’t force yourself to find a positive meaning for everything that happened.

Simply ask:

What do I know now that I did not know before?

Maybe the answer is about God.

Maybe it is about yourself.

Maybe it is about compassion.

Maybe it is about what truly matters.

Then thank God—not necessarily for the pain itself—but for the ways He met you and continued teaching you through it.

A Small Prayer

Lord,

You are good.

There are things in life I do not understand and experiences I would never have chosen.

I don’t want to pretend that painful things do not hurt.

But I also don’t want pain to have the final word.

Meet me in the places I cannot explain.

Make my heart teachable.

Give me knowledge and good judgment.

And when I look back on difficult seasons, help me recognize the ways You carried me, corrected me, taught me, and drew me closer to Your truth.

Let Your Word become precious to me—not only something I read, but something I know how to hold onto when life becomes difficult.

Amen.

Next — YOD י | Psalm 119:73–80
If God made me, can I trust Him to keep shaping me?

Editorial Note
This post reflects my personal Bible study and faith journey as I slowly read and reflect on Scripture. I use AI as a creative tool to help organize my thoughts, refine my English, and assist with some illustrations. It is not a substitute for Scripture or pastoral or theological guidance. I encourage readers to open the Bible, read the passage in its full context, and spend time reflecting on God’s Word for themselves.