Why Persecution?
It's an age old philosophical question: Why would a loving God allow suffering in the world? For Christians, the question is even more pertinent: Why would our loving God allow His people to suffer?
I'm not going to try to give you an exhaustive answer to this question, one that has filled many books, but the lives of persecuted Christians answer these questions far more powerfully than I could ever begin to.
Today, for instance, I read an interview with the daughter of a Chinese pastor that has been unjustly locked away in prison. Even though the judge in the case admitted that the evidence against him is insufficient, and the facts "ambiguous," this house church leader has not been given a fair trial. Instead, he is suffering in very poor health in a Chinese prison.
But in that prison, he is doing the Lord's work among the most hardened of criminals. His daughter shared this touching story:
And so my father continues to share the Good News even while in prison. In 2005 after he suffered from the stroke in the previous prison and was hospitalized, he left a bag of sunflower seeds for his cell-mates to consume. But one of his fellow prisoners said, “No, we will not eat them yet; we will wait until Christmas when we can partake of them together to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.” So on Christmas night, they distributed the seeds to close to 20 people in two adjoining cells and ate them together. After that, they sang songs and worshipped. That’s how they celebrated the Lord’s birthday.
We can't always see God's overarching plan. We tend to be stuck in our own little temporal lives, unable to see beyond our own temporary pain, and the temporary pain of others. But we can certainly see evidence of the truth of God's promise that "all things work together for good to them that love God." (Romans 8:28) We can see that evidence in the lives of those living in persecution. In the midst of their persecution, they are accomplishing the work of the Kingdom. Even their suffering is working together for good.
And as an added benefit to us, their suffering gives us the chance to meet their needs. In doing so, we are answering the calling on the Body of Christ, doing the work of the Lord for His church.