Martin Luther noted 3 primary rules from Psalm 119 for knowing God and understanding his Word:
a) Oratio = prayer
b) Meditatio = meditation
c) Tendatio = trial, affliction, or temptation.
He reasoned that one of the greatest hermeneutical keys in life is pain. See Psalm 119:67 -- “Before I was afflicted, I went astray,” and again from v. 71 -- “It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn your decrees.”
Luther concluded: “These afflictions teach you not only to know and understand but to experience how right and how true and how sweet and how lovely are the mighty comforting Words of God. It is wisdom supreme. As soon as God’s Word comes to be known through you, the Devil will afflict you with great affliction and make a doctor out of you! And will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God’s Word...”