Suffering can be a gift from God. This is a radical way to think about something which many people believe should be avoided at all costs. Of course, some good things can only be achieved through pain. A child’s birth comes through agonising labour. A fit body is the result of hours of strenuous exercise.

While Christians don’t go looking for suffering, we recognise its positive benefits. For instance, suffering for Jesus’ sake is a privilege and a gift of God’s grace (Acts 5:41; Philippians 1:29). Suffering also makes us rely on God, as it reminds us of our natural weakness, causing us to find our strength in God, who graciously empowers us to persevere (2 Corinthians 12:6–10). Suffering produces perseverance (James 1:2–3; Romans 5:3). It turns our minds to the day when God will bring an end to all sorrow and pain, and bring justice to a corrupt world.

All these themes are found in this section of Psalm 119 (vv. 81–88). The psalmist is at his lowest point emotionally. The Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon called this section “the midnight of the psalm”. The psalmist speaks of his soul fainting (v. 81) and his eyes failing in continual straining to look for deliverance (v. 82). He has become “like a wineskin in the smoke” (v. 83). Perhaps he’s suggesting that as a wineskin becomes dry and blackened by smoke, he’s become shrivelled up by his sufferings. What solely sustains him are God’s trustworthy commands (v. 86).

In the next section (vv. 89–96), darkness turns to light as the psalmist reflects on the reliability and stability of God’s laws. In a changing world, one thing remains for ever—the Word of God (vv. 89–91, 96). Jesus said that “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). As God is eternal, so His words are eternal (Psalm 119:89).

It may seem strange to us that the psalmist says that his spiritual life has been sustained by God’s laws. We may wonder where the Holy Spirit fits in here. Isn’t it by the power of the Spirit that we endure in the midst of suffering and opposition? The answer is that God’s Spirit and God’s Word work together. They can no more be separated from each other than a person can be separated from their words.

Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life . . . the words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63; emphasis added). Paul can speak of being “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18–19) and “[letting] the message of Christ dwell among you richly” (Colossians 3:16) as if they’re the same thing. As we read God’s Word each day with an open heart, we can be confident His Spirit is working in our lives.