Psalms 119:75

I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Divine rectitude and fidelity

I. The truths declared.

1. In all the afflictive events of life, we are to recognize, not only a directing and an overruling Providence in general, but also the application of its provisions and dispensations to individuals.

2. All God’s providential dispensations, not excepting the most painful ones, are in accordance with perfect rectitude.

3. The dispensations of Providence in application to those whom God designs to bless, are the operations of Divine love.

II. The certainty expressed. We know also that God’s judgments are right, and that His afflictive dispensations are but the awful visitations of love. But how?

1. From the Bible. The doctrine that there is a comprehensive, minute, all-wise Providence, and that all providential dispensations towards the people of God, however afflictive, are expressions of faithful love, and in close connection and harmony with the “designs of the Cross of Christ, is conveyed in every part of the Word of God.

2. From the revealed character of God. He is just, and wise, and good. It is our bliss to be assured of this. To His natural perfections of eternity, intelligence, power, and immensity is added every moral attribute in infinite perfection. What He is in Himself, that He is in His doings.

III. The state of mind manifested.

1. Here is expressed a proper sense of the nature, in themselves, of the painful events which befall us. They are viewed as “judgments,” and felt to be afflictions.

2. Here is manifested the absence of all disposition to murmur, repine, and rebel against the appointments of God. The language indicates a heart, as well as a tongue, free from hard thoughts of God.

3. This language is expressive of the deepest submission to the will of God.

4. Here is expressed confidence in God, that some gracious design is comprehended in His painful visitations, and that they will terminate in some merciful result. It is faith ascending her watch tower, putting herself in the posture of expectation, and looking out for the blessing, though she does not know from what quarter, at what time, or in what form the blessing will come, yet still believing it will come. (J. A. James.)

Man’s relation to God’s rule

Every man’s religion takes colouring and character from his conceptions of God. “I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right.” This is the utterance of a sure faith, a faith which has all the certainty of knowledge. And elsewhere we meet it oftentimes, as (Psalms 23:4.) His felt conviction of the Divine presence and the Divine love inspired him with courage, and cheered him with light in the darkest day of his earthly experience. And this position commends itself at once to the highest and clearest reason, and to the deepest affections of man. It is through faith in the perfect and paternal God that the wearied spirit of man finds rest. “I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right.” This is the utterance of a devout soul, faithful and active within its own sphere. What a contrast in spirit it presents to that of the lives which so many libel How many men and women pass their days in an unconscious protest against the Divine providence. Everything to them is a bar, a hindrance, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offence. Nor can cure come to this direful malady of spirit until the thought of God’s sovereign rule becomes a fixed conviction in the soul and a ground principle of life. This kills that selfishness which, by magnifying our individual importance beyond all proper proportions, becomes the prolific root of discontent. Disappointments come to man and cherished hopes fade. What then? Is hope gone--following health or wealth in their flight? Is trust buried in the tomb? No, for we know that God reigneth, always supreme in darkness as in light, in tribulation as in joy. We know that though clouds and darkness are round about Him, justice and mercy are the habitations of His throne. A very noticeable fact in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is His recognition of the trials of the human lot. One of His earliest utterances was a blessing on the mourners and a promise of comfort. He was Himself a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Thus He becomes to man the highest revelation of the religion which God requires. And when the most trying crisis of His life was upon Him--when the cross was in view, and the agony of His soul was at its height; yet did He, out, of His living trust in God, nevertheless say, “Not My will, O Father, but Thine be done.” This is Christ’s testimony to the great and consolatory truth set forth in our text: that whatever comes to pass in the Divine order of events is right; God rules in and over all affairs and events, and His is the rule of infinite wisdom, infinite justice, and infinite love. (John Cordner.)