Thoughts on Psalm 119:50

50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.

In verse 49, I wrote about “inside jokes” - those deeply personal and intimate connections that God has with us.

One of the ways God speaks to me is through numbers. I’ll glance at the clock, or license plate, or some other random place, and I’ll see a number that is significant to me, perhaps a special date, or a Scripture reference.

For example, I’ll look at the clock and see 9:15. This is significant to me on two accounts: first, it is the area code of El Paso, my hometown, to which I recently returned. So in seeing that number, in a sense, I hear God saying, “you’re right where I want you to be.” Secondly, there are 915 verses in the book of Proverbs. So again, I hear the Lord say, “I have wisdom for you, to help you.”

Last year, I started seeing a particular number (my birthday) on the clock. Sometimes twice a day. I would see it several days in a row. This went on for months. And then, on my actual birthday, the Lord spoke to me from 2 Kings. He made me a very simple promise.

Simple, but profound. To explain it, I would have to recount the last 7 years of my life. But His promise touched me very deeply.

So last week, I glanced at the clock 3 times in the morning. All 3 times, the numbers were very significant to me. One was my birthday, one was 9:15, and the third was the date that I had my first Encounter with the Lord.

Later that day, my Dad was in a car accident, and has been in the hospital since. The doctor’s report was not favorable, statistically speaking. He is doing better, but it has been one of the most challenging, emotionally draining weeks of my life.

So I think back to that promise the Lord made me last year on my birthday. I think of how He highlights 915 - and that He has wisdom to help me navigate these difficult waters. I think back to how many times God has delivered me, and my loved ones, from so many difficult situations - even from death.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:19

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

The Lord never promised us a storm-free life. But He promised He would be with us in the storm. He promised us comfort in the midst of affliction. Peace in the face of chaos.

This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.