Suffering. It's God's Way

Refiner's Fire

Spend a few minutes reading about Joseph or David, or maybe about Job or the Acts of the Apostles.  Take a look at the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 or any of Paul’s letters and you’ll soon find evidence of persecution and suffering. In the Bible suffering is normal in the life of God’s people.

The prophets of the Old Testament all suffered. John the Baptist was beheaded. Persecution reached its climax when Jesus was killed by the authorities. After Christ, it was Stephen, a deacon in the Jerusalem Church. He was stoned to death. All twelve of the disciples except perhaps John were killed in one gruesome way or another. The Apostle Paul suffered in ways that few of us can imagine. In Rome, Christians were torn apart by lions for entertainment.

Hundreds of years later, in the United Kingdom, things were difficult  during the Reformation in the 1500s. Christians wanted the common people to have God’s Word in their own language, not just in Latin. William Tynedale and John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English. It cost them their lives.  They were burnt at the stake but Tynedale’s last words were "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes." God answered that prayer. Sometimes, the price we pay to advance the cause of Jesus Christ is a very high one.

Today for 200 million Christians in over 60 nations, suffering is simply part of daily life. In China, Laos, Afghanistan, Colombia, India or Bhutan or in many other places around the world, it’s normal.

Today, many pastors and evangelists will be beaten.  Others will be tortured or thrown into a dark cell––just for meeting with other Christians or having copies of the Bible. In the Islamic world, say Indonesia or Iraq for example, some could die today. In Pakistan right now, a lady has been given the death sentence by the authorities. It happens all the time.

In Laos one time, a house church leader told me about believers who were made to stand like sardines in a hot truck for two days in the baking heat, just because they believed in God.

Persecution varies in intensity but among the most difficult places today is North Korea.  The mere mention of the name of Jesus can mean death. Being found with a Bible could mean  life-imprisonment or execution both for the offender as well as for his or her entire family.

It’s estimated that since the crucifixion of Jesus, 40 million Christians have been killed for their faith.

So, why does God allow suffering? There are different reasons and the truth is that we don’t always know what the Lord is up to.  We do know some things however.

We know, for example, that suffering refines us, it tests our faith. In the same way that gold in the furnace gets refined to remove the impurities, so to the Christian must be refined by the fiery trials of suffering to make us more Christ-like. James tells us to consider it pure joy when we face these tests. It proves the genuineness of our faith.

We also know that suffering can be turned into a great witness to our friends and family.  To be able to say, despite all the hardships, that “it is well with my soul”, is something quite special, greatly honouring to God.  

Horatio Spafford lost all three daughters at sea in a boating accident. He’d already lost his business in a huge fire and yet as his ship reached the place where his girl’s had drowned he could still write the words to the legendary hymn ‘It Is Well With My Soul’. He and his wife went on to reach the poor in the Middle-East. What a powerful testimony!

We also know that God builds his church through persecution. When persecution happens, believers flee from one place to the next...and all the while the gospel spreads and more people hear and become Christ-followers. The book of Acts shows that 99% of believers working cross-culturally were there because of persecution. The other 1% were there because the church sent them. It’s the same pattern in the Old Testament in Exodus when the new King of Egypt came to power and oppressed the people of Israel. The more they were oppressed, the more they spread abroad.

Can we stop it?  Well, the truth is that the number one reason for persecution today is conversion!  If we want to stop persecution then we have to stop people coming to Christ - and that’s not going to happen!

Let’s, be praying for those who experience intense suffering. The Bible tells us that we are to remember them as if we are suffering in the same way. Don’t forget: they are our brothers and sisters, part of the same body we belong to.

Suffering is the norm. We should be comforted by Joseph’s words to his brothers that had years earlier, sold him into slavery: “As for you, you meant evil against me, God meant it for good”. God is sovereign. He will build his Church and there’s nothing the devil can do to stop that happening.

‘For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake’ (Phil 1:29-30)

 

For further study: Matt. 5:10–12; Matt 24:9, Luke 14:27; Acts 5:41; Acts 8:1; Acts 11:19-21; 1 Thess 3:1-4; Phil 1:12-14; 2 Tim 1:8; Heb 10:32-34; Heb 11:32-40; Heb 13:3; 1 Pet 4:12-16

Books to read: ‘Jesus Freaks’ by DC Talk and VOTM, ‘God Smuggler’ by Brother Andrew, ‘China’s Book of Martyrs’ by Paul Hattaway, ‘The Shadow of the Almighty’ by Elisabeth Elliot. 'Yun' The Heavenly Man Comic.