SERMON TITLE: Suffering and Worship
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 86 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 6-29-25
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As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And — if this happens to be your first time worshiping with us — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
We’re continuing our series where we’re looking at some of King David’s psalms that address the topic of suffering. We’ve seen that there are many aspects to suffering — many reasons for our suffering — that David touches on in his psalms. And regardless if you’re currently in a season of suffering — I think we all understand that suffering has a way of showing up in our lives — often unexpectedly — which makes it wise for us to prepare for.
We’ve also seen that — for the follower of Jesus — suffering is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to spiritually grow for those of us who follow a Savior who experienced suffering. Not an easy opportunity to grow — it’s often a painful opportunity — for suffering comes when life is most challenging. But — in another sense — suffering is one of the easiest times to grow — because — when life’s most challenging we’re forced to change.
And today we’re going to continue to see how our Christian faith offers a different opportunity in these hard moments of life: an opportunity to become more like our Savior — Jesus — who — in love for us — experienced suffering, trials, persecution, hardships, rejection, hatred — and he experienced all of this so we might have hope in the midst of the sorrows we face.
And I say this knowing not all of us believe in Jesus. But all of us have experienced suffering — or know others who have. And — if you’re honest — it’s frightening. Because our culture offers no good reason as to why we suffer or how to suffer well. Which is where the Christian faith comes in with unexpected hope for all of us travelers in a suffering-filled world.
This hope is what we’ve been discovering as we look at a few of David’s psalms — including today’s psalm — psalm eighty-six. So — if you have your Bible — please turn there — to psalm eighty-six.
David addresses this in our psalm for today — psalm eighty-six — when he writes…
Psalm 86 ESV
1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. 3 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. 4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. 6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. 7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. 8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. 9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. 10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. 12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. 13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. 14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. 15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant. 17 Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Here’s where we’re headed. We’re going to begin by briefly looking at David’s suffering. Then we’ll see how — even in our suffering — worship always begins with God. And — finally — we’ll see how — when our worship begins with God — our prayers will be bold and worshipful.
David’s suffering. Worship always begins with God. Which leads to bold worshipful prayers.
We’ll begin by looking at David’s suffering — we’ll begin in verse three. There David writes…
Psalm 86:3 ESV
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day.
Skipping to verse seven we read…
Psalm 86:7 ESV
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.
Jumping down to verse fourteen we read…
Psalm 86:14 ESV
14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.
And a few verses later — in verse seventeen — David writes…
Psalm 86:17 ESV
17 Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Like some of the other psalms we’ve looked at — David doesn’t give us enough information to know the specific situation he’s writing about. Verse fourteen gives us the most detail — a group of individuals are seeking his life — but that’s not enough for us to nail down exactly what moment David’s describing for us — for he experienced many “people seeking his life” moments.
Regardless — whatever he’s going through has caused him to cry out to God — which he says he’s doing quite often. He calls this time in his life as the “day of his trouble” because — as I said earlier — there are people out to get him because they hate him.
Now given that this is our fourth week in this series — and having looked at David’s history with suffering — I don’t think we need to spend any more time on the specific reasons for his suffering in this psalm. I just want to make the point — again — that if you’re suffering — if you can relate to any of what David’s describing in our psalm — if your days are full of trouble — if there are people against you — if you’re in a situation where you are endlessly crying out to God — Christian or not — if you know what it’s like to ask why me — or have ever vented to friends or on social media about the injustice you’ve experienced — if you know the life companion whose name is sorrow — then there’s something for you to learn from David today.
And — even if you’re not in sorrow right now — David’s going to give you some advice that — if taken — it’ll be a source of strength when a season of suffering comes upon you.
Now — even without knowing all the specifics of David’s suffering — we’re going to see the connection between suffering and worship. And what David’s going to show us is that worship begins with God. Even in our suffering — our worship begins with God — because worship always begins with God.
In verse five David writes…
Psalm 86:5 ESV
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Skipping to verse eight we read…
Psalm 86:8–10 ESV
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. 9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. 10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
Remember — these are the words of a man who’s in the midst of much suffering. Later — in verse thirteen — David says…
Psalm 86:13 ESV
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
And in verse fifteen he writes…
Psalm 86:15 ESV
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
First things first about worship. If you’re here today and you wouldn’t consider yourself a Christian — or even a religious person — you may think, “This worship stuff is only for religious people — what does this have to do with me?” Worship and suffering are much more practical to you than you might think — because — regardless if you’re a Christian or not — and regardless if you view yourself as a religious person or not — all of us are worshippers. We can’t help it. It’s like it’s part of our DNA or something.
By worship — I simply mean how we’re all prone to center our lives around something or someone. Your career or family, being seen as successful or being free to live however you want, having a romantic partner or being viewed as smart and capable, people even center their lives around not suffering — you name it — people worship it. And — to worship — means we pursue whatever it is — we make sacrifices for it — it gets our time, energy, and money. We give our lives to it — because it — whatever it is — gives us meaning and purpose — it gives us our identity.
These its we worship have been called idols of the heart. Idols — as you probably know — used to come in the form of wood or metal statues — and you’ll still find those in many parts of the world today. But for us in the West — idols take on other forms — career, family, success, money, youth, beauty, and so on. As one pastor has said, “Nobody is truly an unbeliever. Either you trust the real God or you’re enslaved to something you treat as a god.” And this may surprise you — but non-Christians agree.
Twenty years ago — while delivering the commencement speech at Kenyon College — David Foster Wallace — who wasn’t a Christian — said, “A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. Here’s one example of the utter wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely talk about this sort of natural, basic self-centeredness, because it’s so socially repulsive, but it’s pretty much the same for all of us, deep down.” That’s his way of saying, “Here’s something else we worship — ourselves.”
He goes on to say, “There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. [Remember — he’s not a Christian. He goes on to say…] And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship — be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths…is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you…Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out…Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default-settings. They’re the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that’s what you’re doing.”
So be open to the idea that you are a worshiper — even if you’re not sure exactly what it is that you worship. And — if you call yourself a Christian — be open to the idea that there are some idols of your heart that you may not be aware are vying for your worship.
So — for all of us worshipers — I want to show us Someone who’s worthy of our worship — in fact the only Someone worthy of our worship. We find this Someone in verse five of our psalm.
Psalm 86:5 ESV
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
What a powerful statement, right? About this verse, one scholar has said…
The chief encouragement in prayer is knowing the character of God. David has come to know God through his Word and through his experience as a believer. The better he knows God, the more certain he is of God’s willingness to help him in his need. What an incentive this is for us to study the attributes of God—his divine characteristics as they are revealed in Holy Scripture—and to walk with God [in] faith so [we] know him better!
The character of God that David’s focusing on — while he suffers — is God’s steadfast love — which he mentions three times in our psalm. One children’s book author has described God’s steadfast love as his, “Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.”
We have our definitions of love — this is God’s definition. And this is what he means when he says he loves his people.
It’s a love that never stops. The Christian faith teaches that there’s nothing you can do to earn God’s love — which means — and this is glorious — there’s nothing you can do to un-earn his love. When God loves you — he loves you. And there’s nothing you can do to stop him from loving you.
Additionally, his love for you never gives up. Though we may reach our breaking point — or turn our backs on God — and distrust him and question him and doubt him and betray him — he never gives up on us. He pursues us. He calls us back. He whispers to us — in our sorrow and grief — I love you.
His love for us is unbreaking. God’s love is an always and forever love. From eternity past to eternity future — those whom God loves — he eternally loves.
This is just one attribute of God that’s meant to change the way we worship him. For our God is also compassionate, and faithful, and all-knowing, and all-powerful, and just, and righteous, and merciful, and slow to anger, and good, and kind, and eternal, and Creator, and so much more — which is why our worship must begin with God. For — when it begins with him — our worship will be spiritually red hot — on fire — regardless of our circumstances — yes — even when we’re suffering.
Don’t believe me? You don’t have to take my — or even David’s — word for it. Take Job — who after the tragic death of all of his children and the loss of all of his wealth…
Job 1:20–21 NLT
20 Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. 21 He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”
Or take Paul and Silas who — while locked in chains in prison — at…
Acts 16:25–26 ESV
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.
Or take Hannah — who though childless and ridiculed by others because of it — continued to pour out her soul before the LORD in prayer. And — after the fulfillment of the promise given to her — that she would have a son — she prayed…
1 Samuel 2:1–2 NLT
1 “My heart rejoices in the Lord! The Lord has made me strong. Now I have an answer for my enemies; I rejoice because you rescued me. 2 No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
Or take the prophet Habakkuk who was given a prophecy of judgment for the people of Judah. Habakkuk received a hard word about the punishment the people of God were going to experience. And yet his book ends with these words.
Habakkuk 3:17–19 NLT
17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. (For the choir director: This prayer is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)
The words in parenthesis tell us this was a song to be sung in worship by the people of God. “When there’s no fruit on the trees — when there’s a famine in the land — when all of the herds have died — I will still rejoice in the God of my salvation.” That’s some red hot, spiritually on fire, kind of worship, right?
“But, come on Josh. Those were people in the Bible. Of course they could worship God in the midst of suffering. Don’t you have to be a super spiritual hero to make it in the Bible anyway?” You don’t have to be a super spiritual hero to make it in the Bible — but here are some non-biblical folks who show us that this kind of worship — while suffering — is possible.
Take Horatio Spafford who — after his four daughters drowned in a shipwreck — penned the hymn It is Well with My Soul as he traveled by ship to meet his wife. One of the lines in the hymn states “Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul.”
Or take Corrie ten Boom who was imprisoned in a concentration camp because she and her family had helped around eight hundred Jews flee from the Nazis. Her family was betrayed and were arrested. Corrie smuggled a Bible into the concentration camp and held worship services. She famously said, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” If God’s steadfast love could meet Corrie and others imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp — might it be possible for his love to meet you in whatever dark pit of suffering you find yourself in?
The examples could go on — but I think you get the point. For many — because of the God they worship — the God who’s revealed himself in this book — they were able to worship even as they suffered. And when we follow in their steps — by worshiping the same “steadfast-loving us always-God” — we will find ourselves praying big, bold, worshipful prayers. We’re back in verse one where David writes…
Psalm 86:1–4 ESV
1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. 3 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. 4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
Jumping to verse six we read…
Psalm 86:6–7 ESV
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. 7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.
Skipping to verse eleven David writes…
Psalm 86:11–12 ESV
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. 12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
Finally in verse sixteen we read…
Psalm 86:16–17 ESV
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant. 17 Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Pay attention to how David begins his big, bold, worshipful prayer. He begins with humility — acknowledging that he’s poor and needy. Now — remember — he’s king David. The giant slaying hero who God appointed as leader over his people. This is no man in an ordinary position — this is like being the president of our country — and yet David begins his prayer displaying God-honoring humility.
How do your prayers begin?
Once Jesus told a parable — a short story meant to teach a moral truth — to…
Luke 18:9–14 ESV
9 some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In Jesus’s day, everyone would’ve assumed that a tax collector would need to humble himself before God — but a Pharisee? If anyone was a super spiritual hero of the day it was a Pharisee. Yet Jesus makes it clear that everyone must approach God in prayer with humility. Something David — though a king — understood. And if it’s fitting for a king to humble himself before God — I think it’s safe to conclude that the same is true for all of us non-kings and queens.
Bold prayers are still humble prayers. Boldness and humility are not enemies — they’re friends — partners — boldness and humility are characteristics of those whose worship of God begins with who God is — as we saw earlier.
“But, wait. Josh, you may’ve gotten ahead of yourself. Don’t you see how David describes himself in verse two? He says, ‘I am godly’ and that doesn’t sound very humble to me — that sounds just like the Pharisee.” David isn’t making a self-righteous statement — he’s simply saying that he trusts in God. In today’s language David would say, “I’ve put my trust in Christ alone.” That’s not what the Pharisee was doing.
Yet David knows how his heart is fickle. Our hearts chase after many lovers and gods — even after we’ve put our trust in Christ. That’s why David prays — in verse eleven — for God to unite his heart to fear his name. Remember — men are after David. They want him dead and obviously don’t want him to be their king — there’s division in the land. Yet here — as he prays — David shows that he’s just as concerned for his divided heart as he is for the divided nation. His desire is that his whole heart would be committed to trusting in God’s promises and doing God’s will.
What’s the bigger concern for you — which gets the greater attention of your prayer life? Divisions around you — political divisions, racial divisions, relational divisions, religious divisions, and so on — or the division within your own heart? Does it even bother you — for this is true of you just as it’s true of me — that your heart isn’t fully committed to trusting God’s promises and accomplishing the will he has for you? That even though you long to love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength — yet — you know you live with a heart that’s divided.
Those who are humble before God — who — even in suffering — worship him — will ask God not only to relieve them of their suffering — which they do ask for in prayer! — but also to teach them. To teach them about their divided heart. To help them walk in truth even as they suffer. To not allow their suffering to give voice to the lies that chirp in our ears: “If God loved you — you wouldn’t be suffering like this.” “See, you’re not a good person. Good people don’t go through what you’re going through.” “You’re unloveable. You’re unforgivable. You’re worthless. You’re ugly. You deserve this.”
The way to combat these lies is to know God’s Word. For this book tells us wonderful, life-changing, hope-in-the-midst-of-suffering truths. Who God is. Who we are. What God is doing in the world. What Jesus accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection. And where all of history is headed.
I know that for many — the Bible is intimidating. So — if you don’t know where to begin — let me encourage you to grab a copy of this booklet — how to make the most of your devotional time — at the Resource Center at your campus. You can also get a digital copy on our website — gatewayepc.org.
Here’s another step you can take to grow in your understanding of who God is: Worship with us weekly. Every week your heart faces a battle — it goes to war. Will an idol of your heart get your allegiance and worship or will the one true God? I know that we get sick. I understand that we go on vacation. But the vast majority of people who don’t worship weekly aren’t missing because they’re sick or on vacation — they miss because an idol has demanded their worship. We don’t call it worship — but go back to what I said earlier and see if you can find a better word. And on a day you find yourself in the midst of suffering — none of those idols will give you what you need. And you may even find yourself wondering where the One true God went off to — when the truth is — he never went anywhere. The question is: Where’d you go?
But know that — even in our wandering — and even with our divided hearts — God is so good, and kind, and patient, and gracious, and forgiving, and — yes — loving — that he always welcomes his children back into his loving arms when we return to him. Even when our suffering’s caused by our own hands — even when it’s caused by others — and even when there’s no one to blame for our suffering — the God who is good and forgiving — who abounds in steadfast love to all who call upon him — is with us. His name is Jesus. And may you turn to him right now — receive his love — and worship him even in your suffering. Let’s pray.
Father, as we pray to you we want to begin by acknowledging who you are. As we’ve been reminded today — you are good and your steadfast love endures forever. What hope is found in knowing that you are good. Not a tyrant. Not wicked. Not unfair. Good. And your steadfast — never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever — love endures for us today, tomorrow, and always.
Holy Spirit, comfort those in need of comfort. Point all of us in the direction of knowing who you are more clearly and accurately. Reveal to us the idols of our hearts — false gods vying for our worship and demanding our devotion. Call us to repentance and help us to do so as we trust that you always forgive those who come to you repenting of their sins.
And — Jesus — all of this great and glorious good news is possible and true because of you. What you accomplished in your perfect life, death, and in your Satan, sin, death, and Hell defeating resurrection. We have hope and can worship you — even in suffering — because you — in love — first suffered for us. And you are with us in our suffering. And you love us through our suffering.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — call many to believe, trust, rest, and worship you today. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go worshiping the One true God — for he is good — and his steadfast love for you endures forever. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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