Psalm 119:50 NKJV
50
This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.
My Comfort in My Affliction: The Power of Scripture
My Notes:
David had afflictions, just like we all do, but his comfort, his consolation in his affliction, is the word of God. This comfort gives him hope; it gives him life. In the book of Hebrews, the word is described as living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the soul and spirit and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 1 Peter reminds us that the seed from which we are born comes from the living and enduring word of God. This is our consolation, our comfort, our hope; that god has brought us from the death of sin to the spiritual life in Him.
Psalm 119:50 reveals the profound impact of God’s word on David, particularly during times of affliction. The verse emphasizes that the word provides both life and comfort, acting as a source of strength and revitalization amidst suffering. Commentators like Matthew Henry and Charles Spurgeon highlight that the word has the power to sanctify, console, and inspire hope in believers. David acknowledges personal experiences of affliction and the unique comfort derived from God’s promises. Overall, the text in the commentaries underscores the essential role of scripture in uplifting the spirit and offering solace, confirming that true comfort stems from the word of God from the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Note: Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today, we’re looking at verse 50, which is in the 7th section, which is called “Zayin ז”. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Zayin ז is the 7th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of seven. The pictograph for Zayin ז looks like a sword. Since Zayin ז represents both the number seven and a sword, it is not surprising that it is used to divide or cut up time (z’man) into units of sevens:
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Shabbat – the 7th day of the 7-day week (the week of days)
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Shavu’ot – the 49th day after Passover (the week of weeks)
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Tishri – the 7th month of the year (the week of months)
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Shemitah – the 7th year of rest for the land (the week of years)
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Yovel – the 49th year (the week of weeks of years)
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The Millennial Kingdom – the 7th millennium of human history (week of 1,000’s)
The Rabbi’s pronounced “All sevens are blessed”, and the number seven has always been regarded in the Jewish tradition as the number of completion, wholeness, blessing, and rest.
……..Bill
Commentaries:
Matthew Henry
Here is David’s experience of benefit by the word.
1. As a means of his sanctification: “Thy word has quickened me. It made me alive when I was dead in sin; it has many a time made me lively when I was dead in duty; it has quickened me to that which is good when I was backward and averse to it, and it has quickened me in that which is good when I was cold and indifferent.”
2. Therefore, as a means of his consolation when he was in affliction and needed something to support him: “Because thy word has quickened me at other times, it has comforted me then.” The word of God has much in it that speaks comfort in affliction; but those only may apply it to themselves who have experienced in some measure the quickening power of the word. If through grace it makes us holy, there is enough in it to make us easy, in all conditions, under all events.
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Charles Spurgeon
“This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.” He means,—Thy word is my comfort, or the fact that thy word has brought quickening to me is my comfort. Or he means that the hope which God had given him was his comfort, for God had quickened him thereby. Whatever may be the exact sense, it is clear that the Psalmist had affliction—affliction peculiar to himself, which he calls “my affliction;” that he had comfort in it,—comfort specially his own, for he styles it “my comfort;” and that he knew what the comfort was, and where it came from, for he exclaims—”this is my comfort”. The worldling clutches his money bag and says, “this is my comfort;” the spendthrift points to his gaiety, shouts, “this is my comfort;” the drunkard lifts his glass, and sings, “this is my comfort;” but the man whose hope comes from God feels the giving power of the word of the Lord, and he testifies, “this is my comfort.“ Paul said, “I know whom I have believed.” Comfort is desirable all times; but comfort in affliction is like a lamp in a dark place. Some are unable to find comfort at such times, but it is not so with believers; their Savior has said to them, “I will not leave you comfortless.” Some have comfort and no affliction, others have affliction and no comfort; the saints have comfort in their affliction.
The word frequently comforts us by increasing the force of our inner life: “this is my comfort; thy word hath quickened me.“ To quicken the heart is to cheer the whole man. Often the nearest way to consolation is sanctification and invigoration. If we cannot clear away the fog, it may be to rise to a higher level, and so to get above it. Troubles which weigh us down while we are half dead become mere trifles when we are full of life. Thus have we often been raised in spirit by quickening grace, and the same thing will happen again, for the Comforter is still with us, the Consolation of Israel ever liveth, and the very God of peace is evermore our Father. On looking back upon our past life, there is one ground of comfort as to our state—the word of God has made us alive, and kept us so. We were dead, but we are dead no longer. From this, we gladly infer that if the Lord had meant to destroy us, he would not have quickened us. If we were only hypocrites worthy of derision, as the proud ones say, he would not have revived us by his grace. An experience of quickening is a fountain of good cheer.
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Enduring Word
This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life: When the psalmist recalled how faithfully and powerfully God’s word had brought him life in the past, he then found comfort in his present affliction. (Guzik)
i. “It would seem as though this section expressed the feelings of one in the midst of affliction. It does not sing the song of deliverance therefrom. The word is distinctly, ‘This is my comfort in my affliction.’” (Morgan)
ii. In this stanza, there is no specific prayer for help. Instead, there are “…statements by the writer that he trusts what God has written in his law and will continue to love it and obey its teachings. It is a way of acknowledging that suffering is common to human beings.” (Boice)
iii. My comfort…my affliction: In the midst of an affliction suited to the individual, the believer can also enjoy a comfort specifically suited to him. It is my affliction, and it is my comfort. (Guzik)
Your word has given me life: All should remember (especially preachers) that the word of God gives life; the preacher does not give it life. It isn’t as if the poor, dead word of God lay lifeless until the wonderful preacher came and breathed life into it. Instead, the word of God gives life, especially to dead preachers. (Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
This is my comfort in my affliction – Compare Romans 15:4. The word here rendered “comfort” occurs only here and in Job 6:10. The obvious meaning is, that his only consolation in his affliction was derived from the word of God; the word which had caused him to hope, and the word by which he had been quickened or made alive. The particular design of this is to show the value of the word of God as a source of comfort in trouble.
For thy word hath quickened me – Has made me alive; or, caused me to live. That is, the word, the truth of God, had been the instrument of calling him from the death of sin, and of imparting to him new life, or had been the means of his regeneration. Compare James 1:18; 1 Corinthians 4:15; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 1:23. As it was by this “word” that he had been made alive, so his only comfort was in that word, and it was to him a just ground of consolation that God had brought him from the death of sin, and had imparted to him spiritual life.
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John Gill
This [is] my comfort in my affliction,…. David had his afflictions, and so has every good man; none are without; it is the will and pleasure of God that so it should be; and many are their afflictions, inward and outward: the word of God is often their comfort under them, the written word, heard or read; and especially a word of promise, powerfully applied: this is putting underneath everlasting arms, and making their bed in sickness. This either respects what goes before, concerning the word of promise hoped in, or what follows:
for thy word hath quickened me; not only had been the means of quickening him when dead as it often is the means of quickening dead sinners, being the savior of life unto life; but of reviving his drooping spirits, when in affliction and distress; and of quickening the graces of the Spirit of God in him.
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The Pulpit Commentaries
This is my comfort in my affliction. Nekhamah, “comfort,” occurs only here and in Job 6:10, but the meaning is well ascertained. For thy Word hath quickened me; or, “thy promise.” The “word,” whatever it was, referred to in verse 49. This had given the psalmist new life.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“This is my comfort,” etc. The word of promise was David’s comfort, because the word had quickened him to receive comfort. The original is capable of another modification of thought—“This is my consolation that thy word hath quickened me.” He had the happy experience within him; he felt the reviving, restoring, life-giving power of the word, as he read, as he dwelt upon it, as he meditated therein, and as he gave himself up to the way of the word. The believer has all God’s unfailing promises to depend upon, and as he depends, he gains strength by his own happy experiences of the faithfulness of the word.—John Stephen.
“My comfort.” “Thy word.” God hath given us his Scriptures, his word; and the comforts that are fetched from thence are strong ones, because they are his comforts, since they come from his word. The word of a prince comforts, though he be not there to speak it. Though it be by a letter, or by a messenger, yet he whose word it is, is one that is able to make his word good. He is Lord and Master of his word. The word of God is comfortable, and all the reasons that are in it, and that are deduced from it, upon good ground and consequence, are comfortable, because it is God’s word. Those comforts in God’s word and reasons from thence are wonderful in variety. There is comfort from the liberty of a Christian, that he hath free access to the throne of grace; comfort from the prerogatives of a Christian, that he is the child of God, that he is justified, that he is the heir of heaven, and such like; comforts from the promises of grace, of the presence of God, of assistance by his presence.—Richard Sibbes.
“Thy word hath quickened me.” It is a reviving comfort which quickeneth the soul. Many times we seem to be dead to all spiritual operations, our affections are dampened and discouraged; but the word of God puts life into the dead, and relieveth us in our greatest distresses. Sorrow worketh death, but joy is the life of the soul. Now, when dead in all sense and feeling, “the just shall live by faith” (Heb 4:4), and the hope wrought in us by the Scriptures is “a lively hope” (1Pe 1:8). Other things skin the wound but our sore breaketh out again, and runneth; faith penetrates into the inwards of a man, doth good to the heart; and the soul revives by waiting upon God, and gets life and strength.
—Thomas Manton.
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Cross-References
Romans 15:4 (KJV)
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Psalm 94:19 (ESV)
19 When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
Psalm 119:92 (ESV)
92 If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
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Closing Thoughts
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3-4 NKJV
Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. Proverbs 3:13-18 NKJV
ז ZAYIN – The power of God’s word to comfort and strengthen. (Completion, Wholeness, Blessing, and Rest.)
49
Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
50
This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.
51
The proud have me in great derision,
Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
52
I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,
And have comforted myself.
53
Indignation has taken hold of me
Because of the wicked, who forsake Your law.
54
Your statutes have been my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.
55
I remember Your name in the night, O Lord,
And I keep Your law.
56
This has become mine,
Because I kept Your precepts.
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