I am afflicted very much:
Quicken me, O LORD, according to thy word (Psa 119.107).

Suffering is inevitable in this fallen world, and saints can expect to have the worst of it because while we are not exempted from the common miseries of mankind, to these are added special trials peculiar to God’s favorites. Those counselors exhibit colossal naïvete who imply that strong faith brings immunity from ocean-depths of inner anguish and sorrow. The Savior himself said prophetically, “Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger” (Lam 1.12), and no one had greater faith than he.

MY SUFFERING

The psalmist here openly admits his distress and profound pain to God. “I am afflicted very much.” The verb includes the ideas of suffering and being oppressed, and it stands intensified here—“severely afflicted” (ESV); “very much afflicted” (Tanakh); “suffering terribly” (NET).

This Spirit-filled prophet is saying to God, “My suffering is real and it is intense.” It is an expression of complaint, but not in a sinful way. His heart is wide open to his Creator, Lord, and Redeemer, and he is seeking divine mercy. He speaks the candid truth to the One who understands and cares more than all others combined.

THE LORD’S SUFFICIENCY

When people suffer such misery, it seems they run everywhere to everyone and try everything to find relief—anyone except God, that is. An old gospel song entitled “Where Could I Go But to the Lord?” makes up for its poor and simple artistry by its praiseworthy sentiment:

Living below in this old sinful world,
Hardly a comfort can afford,
Striving alone to face temptation’s call,
Where could I go to the Lord?

Where could I go, where could I go,
Seeking a refuge for my soul
Needing a friend to help me in the end
Where could I go to the Lord?¹

No one loves the Christian like his Savior! No one sympathizes with us as Jesus who suffered the most exquisite tortures of soul and body, and all from zeal for God’s glory and compassion for his beloved lost ones.

And Christians learn by experience that the Lord is enough. One Puritan said, “Saints should fear every sin, but no sufferings”²—not because we feel little pain, but because the Lord is surpassingly capable to sustain us in the valley of the shadow of death and to deliver us when his benevolent purposes toward us are realized. God ordains temporal suffering for our eternal good. Sufferings are “the shortest cut to heaven,”³ and the Lord himself is the driver conducting us there.

MY RESPONSIBILITY

The psalmist here sets a godly example for us all, because he gives himself to prayer in his suffering. The world knows nothing of true prayer, and even believers appreciate its usefulness far too little.

One of David’s worst days happened at a place called Ziklag where he was living before he became king over all Israel. Ziklag was a Philistine city given to David as a hideout from the insanely jealous Saul on Israel’s throne at the time. From there, behind enemy lines, David made raids on other Philistine towns, decimating them and killing everything that breathed to cover his tracks. In this way he showed loyalty to the Lord and Israel even while he was in exile.

Returning home one day, David and his men discovered that the Amalekites had swooped down upon their village, invaded their homes, kidnapped their wives and children, and burned it all to the ground. David and his battle-hardened comrades were so overcome with grief that they wept until they had no more power to weep. Then sorrow turned to anger against David, since he was the leader who had let this happen. So severe was their rage that they were almost ready to stone him. No wonder David was “greatly distressed!” Most of us have never been in such a desperate situation.

“But David encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (1 Sam 30.6). This is one of the greatest brief statements in the Old Testament about our spiritual resources. Of course this involved earnest prayer, not unlike the petition of our text.

As believers, we should pity those who disdain prayer as a means of grace in times of trouble—even if they are professing Christians. Many have a dismissive attitude toward prayer, as if it were simplistic and unrealistic counsel for those who are in deep depression and suffering of soul. With God’s blessing, prayer not only does us a world of good, but it is our responsibility anyway. By prayer we glorify God, for we show our confidence that he is incomprehensibly great and unspeakably good, the all-sufficient God. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psa 23.1). These are not just pious-sounding words; they are the very foundation of our recovery from all need and distress.

THE LORD’S RESPONSIVENESS

God condescends greatly to promise those who trust in him that his ears will remain open to our cries. “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psa 50.15). In New Testament language, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5.14-15).

The psalmist’s request is for “quickening.” The Hebrew word in this place can have the sense of keeping or preserving alive, and also restoring to life. In the biblical parlance, “life” is shorthand for every blessing of the covenant of salvation, so we may understand his request to be asking for comfort, strength, renewal of hope, wisdom, grace, enduring love even toward those who were mistreating him, and so forth, besides the physical blessings he craved, perhaps including a restoration of health and escape from the distressing circumstance.

MY FAITH

By this general plea, he seems to be leaving the particulars in God’s hands with a humble submission to Providence and confidence in the wisdom and mercy of the divine response. David’s attitude is illustrated in his resignation before the prophet Gad, “I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man” (1 Chron 21.13).

Faith is not demanding from God instant gratification of our wishes, but making our appeal to him and trusting him to take care of us as he deems best. It involves waiting for him without grumbling until he visits us with the particular blessing we ask. It is believing God’s self-revelation in Scripture and his covenant promises, and relying upon them. “Quicken me, O LORD, according to thy word.” This is the kind of faith we must exercise to engage in real prayer. We have to believe that God gives generously to all sincere supplicants, without reprimand for asking (Jas 1.5-6). We must believe that God is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Heb 11.6). Like Father Abraham, we must not waver in unbelief about the promise of God, but be strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and be fully convinced that what God has promised he is also able to perform (Rom 4.20-21).

THE LORD’S FAITHFULNESS

The Lord’s saving response to our prayers, then, will not be unexpected, but come right on time and in keeping with all that he promised to do for us who dare to take him up on his gracious offer. God cannot lie (Tit 1.2) or repent like a man. If he has said something, shall he not do it? If he has spoken something, shall he not make it good? (Num 23.19).

In our own life experience we do not see all the promises of God in their full blossom. We have been given the seed of the Word, and we are justly excited to behold the buds of early fulfillment. We have more than enough of his covenant blessing to keep us expectant and encouraged, even in the darkest times, if we will not throw away our well-founded hope.

But biblical wisdom recognizes that we live in the period of God’s kingdom characterized as the “already but not yet” time. Our days transpire during an overlap of the two great ages. The darkness of this fallen world continues, but the dawning of the age to come has already begun. To keep a right perspective, you must remember that “this ain’t heaven, but it ain’t hell either.” We can enjoy “a foretaste of glory divine” in our blessed assurance that he who gave us the earnest of the Spirit will not fail to grant us all the glories promised in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that eternal life will far surpass all we can ask and think. One of the great reasons God will be praised through eternity is that then his faithfulness to his Word will be on full display more triumphantly than ever.

So my dear brother or sister, especially if these are troublesome days in your life, I urge you to apply this tried and true remedy in affliction. In these very words or in your own, go to the Lord and say, “I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word.” Prove in your own experience that he is the Savior all his saints have ever known him to be. Amen.

Notes:

1. J. B. Coates, available online.

2. Vavasor Powell, cited in The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations, “Suffering.”

3. Powell, ibid.