Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.
—Psalm 119:67
“There are no atheists in foxholes,” is a phrase of uncertain origin, but usually attributed to war journalist Ernie Pyle.
Many a soldier, who never prayed before, fervently does when bullets fly.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “It was only when I lay there on the rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. . . . And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say . . . bless you, prison, for having been a part of my life.”
Perhaps we can look at an unwanted hurt, and say with the psalmist: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. . . . It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Ps 119:67, 71).
A life crisis sometimes births closeness
to God that would not otherwise come.