Why do bad things happen to us?
Why does it seem the more we try to go forward it seems this world knocks us backwards?
Why are we in a financial crisis in America, better yet throughout the world?

The Psalmist gives insight to a portion of his life and with his words he paints us a picture that could be very similar into answering the questions above.

Psalms 119:96 - "Before I was afflicted I went astray..."

You see many times these hardships will be sent by God to get our attention to make us realize that we have gone astray. Somewhere down the line we have made a wrong turn while the bible was telling us to turn right, we were turing left. When God was giving us instructions we were too busy listening to the world to hear Him clearly.

So the psalmist says, "I was afflicted". But notice he is not bitter about it. When you read on down into verse 71 he says, "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Thy statues."

In a sense he was saying, "Thank you God for the affliction you sent my way because it woke me up and got me on the right path." Not all affliction is used by God for direction. Many times it is simply to test our faith. We say we love Him when things are going good but how are we going to react when we are afflicted? Are we still going to be just as much in love with God as we were when we didn't have issues in our life?

Prayer: "God, help us to evaluate the afflictions we may be experiencing. Get us on the right path and help us not to be bitter but instead thankful that you care so much about us that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get our attention."