Christians Who Please God Even More in the Midst of Suffering

"I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves."(Psalm 69:30–31)

There is likely no one in this world who has never been hurt or wounded in human relationships.
Nor is there anyone who has not experienced worry and stress from those relationships.
One of the most difficult and stressful kinds of relationships is when someone hates you, and you cannot understand why.
When someone hates you without cause—and not just one person, but when that one person becomes the center of a group that also begins to hate you without reason—then we are bound to experience extreme stress, anxiety, and pain.

At such times, we long for comfort.
But when no one comforts us—when instead, people turn their backs on us and distance themselves—we may experience deep loneliness.
Even worse, when members of our own family—those we trusted and relied on—turn their backs on us, we may not only feel more discouraged but also be wounded by those very family members.
Such painful situations can make us feel as though we are sinking into a deep pit, plunging us into despair.

In such deep despair, is it possible for us to even think about pleasing God more?
Can we truly offer praise to God with thanksgiving?

In today’s passage, Psalm 69, David, the author, was experiencing suffering likened to a "deep pit" and "deep waters."
Why had David fallen into such a pit?
It was because those who hated him without reason were more than the hairs on his head (v.4).
Also, his powerful enemies were seeking to take his life (v.4).

What made his situation even more painful was that even his own brothers turned away from him (v.8).
David was lonely.
He searched for someone to have compassion on him, someone to comfort him—but found none (v.20).

Yet even in the midst of such suffering, David gave thanks and praised God (v.30).
And he believed that doing so would please God even more (v.31).

How could David praise God with thanksgiving while enduring such intense suffering?
And how can we, like David, please God even more in the midst of our own hardships?

Let us learn four lessons to answer these questions.

First, in order for us to please God even more during suffering,
we must earnestly pray to God.

Look at Psalm 69:13-14, 16-17:
“Answer me, LORD, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
Rescue me from the mud, do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me and from the deep waters...
LORD, your kindness is good;
according to your great mercy, turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress;
answer me quickly.”

When there are many people who hate us without cause, and even powerful forces seeking our lives surround us,
we can easily be overwhelmed by extreme stress, fear, and pain.
At such times, our instinct may be that we cannot seek comfort from anyone, but at least we want to go to our family members, brothers, or dear friends who love us to receive consolation.
However, when even those we expect to go to feel like strangers (v.21), we can feel deep loneliness.
When we realize there is no one who sympathizes with and comforts our broken heart and many worries (v.20), we can experience intense loneliness.
It is then that we painfully realize that people are not reliable, and finally we struggle and cry out to God.
At that moment, the truth we must firmly realize is that “God welcomes me” (v.13).
When no one else welcomes us, we need to understand more deeply that only the Lord always welcomes us.
This understanding will cause us that no matter what suffering we face in the future, we will go first to God, kneel, and pray instead of running first to people.
While praying, though surrounded by many who hate us and suffering greatly, we should long for God’s abundant mercy and truth of salvation, and wait patiently and expectantly in faith for God to answer our prayers.
God will surely save us (v.1).
The God of salvation will rescue us from the deep mire and from those who hate us (v.14).

Second, to please God even more during suffering,
we must recognize our sins and confess them.

Look at Psalm 69:5:
“God knows my foolishness;
my sins are not hidden from you.”
[(Contemporary Bible) “Lord, you know my foolishness;
I cannot hide my sins from you.”]

When many people hate us without cause and powerful forces seek our lives, even if we go to those we depend on,
we often do not receive enough comfort; instead, we are likely to express complaints and resentments before them.
In fact, when we do not rely on God and pray to Him first, we often go to the people close to us and share our dissatisfaction and complaints.
But if we go to God first in prayer, our fingers will point to ourselves rather than to those who hate us.
That is, when we pray before the holy God, we examine ourselves.
God’s holy presence inevitably exposes our dark sins.
Especially when we pray, we realize that it was “my foolishness” to rely on people before God (v.5).
No wise person would do that.
Moreover, when we pray, we realize that our sins cannot be hidden before God.
Therefore, while praying, we cannot help but confess our foolishness and sins to God.

This is the blessing of suffering.
Through suffering, we realize that God the Father welcomes us,
and as we plead with Him, because of God’s holy presence which uncovers our hidden sins, we confess and repent.
Do you not long for this blessing?

Third, in order to please God even more during times of suffering,
we must have a zeal burning within us for the Lord’s temple.

Look at Psalm 69:9:
“For zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me” (Contemporary Bible).

How is this possible?
How can we, who are in suffering, have zeal burning within us for the Lord’s church?
It’s hard to understand with common sense.
Usually, when we suffer, we don’t even have time to think about ourselves, let alone our family.
So how could we, even in that situation, think about the body of Christ and further have love and zeal for the church?

When we plead with God, because of His great love that welcomes us, we confess and repent of our sins, and we come to love God more.
And those who love God cannot help but love His church.
At that time, like the apostle Paul, with God’s zeal, we become zealous for the church (Romans 11:2).

Looking at David’s case—he says that although he received slander and mockery from his enemies and those who hated him, he endured it for the Lord (verses 7, 10, 12).
So he says that shame covered his face (v.7).
Moreover, many of David’s enemies and haters insulted not only David but also those who trusted and sought the Lord (v.6).
They blasphemed the Lord whom David trusted and served (v.9).
At that time, David’s heart burned with zeal for the Lord’s temple (v.9).

Our hearts should be the same.
When many anti-Christians hate us without reason, insult and mock us, and slander the Lord’s church, we must love the body of Christ even more.
The more people insult, slander, and oppose the church, the more we must love it and be zealous for it.
When the church is persecuted and suffers tribulation, our zeal for the church must burn even more intensely within us.

As the hymn lyrics say:
Even amid tribulation and persecution, not only must we keep our faith,
but by that faith, we must be loyal to the Lord and His body, the church, even unto death (New Hymnal, No. 383).

Lastly, fourthly, for us to please God even more during times of suffering,
we must give thanks and offer praise to God.

Look at Psalm 69:30:
“I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.”

God’s grace is truly amazing.
When God shows grace to us Christians, we want to please God rather than ourselves even amid suffering.
This is the work of God.
How does God enable us to please Him?
God causes us to praise Him with thanksgiving even in the midst of suffering.
Do you understand?
How could David praise God with gratitude even in the midst of extreme suffering?
I recall Psalm 63:3:
“Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.”

When David was fleeing from his son Absalom, he experienced the Lord’s faithful love in the wilderness of Judah,
and even amid that suffering, he made the wilderness his sanctuary (v. 2) and praised the Lord (v. 3).

How can we offer praise to God with thanksgiving even in times of suffering?
Because God welcomes us who suffer and answers us with great love and the truth of salvation (v. 13),
we can give thanks and praise God in the midst of suffering.
Christians who love God because they have experienced God’s abundant love (v. 36) cannot help but praise and give thanks for God’s saving love.

Didn’t Paul and Silas do the same in prison?
They prayed and praised God at midnight (Acts 16:25).
I also remember praising God as I experienced a little of God’s eternal love (Psalm 63:3).

After our first baby, Ju-Young, whom God graciously gave us, fell asleep in my arms,
while I was cremating her and scattering her ashes into the water looking at the blue sky,
God allowed me to praise Him with the song “My Savior’s Love” (or “I Stand Amazed”):

(Verse 1)
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
(Standing amazed before Jesus’ presence, wondering how He loves this unclean sinner!)

(Verse 2)
For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
(In Gethsemane, He prayed not for His will but for Yours;
without choosing for Himself, He shed His blood for me.)

(Verse 3)
In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.
(When the angels looked with pity,
from the world of light, they came to comfort Him
as He bore my sorrows that night.)

(Verse 4)
He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.
(He bore my sorrows and sins,
suffered on Calvary, and died alone on the cross.)

(Verse 5)
When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
‘Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.
(When glorified and victorious, when I see Him,
it will be my joy to sing forever of His love for me.)

(Chorus)
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
(Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
My song will never cease:
Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!)

Praising with thanksgiving for the love of my Savior,

Pastor James Kim shares:
(The Lord’s eternal love is better than the life of Ju-Young and me, so my lips praise the Lord.)