W H Y ?

Last week we talked about persecution. Why does God not stop persecution? Have you ever thought about that? You are out here doing the right thing, obeying God and persecution comes and hits you in the face. You read the stories of Christians being massacred and families having to endure unimaginable pain and suffering for their belief in God.

In it all, we know sometimes God intervenes and saves people – we have heard the miracle stories of how God helps people escape trouble. Yes, it still happens today, God saves and rescues! But other times we hear the sad news of those He didn’t rescue. Why? Why does God not stop all persecution against His children?

Because wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t that be the best way to convince the world that, “Hey, Christianity is where it’s at”, when every time someone spoke against one of God’s children, they’d become tongue tied and unable to speak for a week. Or if they point the finger or shake their fist at us their arms would shrivel for a few days. Just some light, God type work to send a message. If that didn’t work an occasional bolt of lightning might do the trick. That would teach people not to come against God’s children. Right? Surely those are easy things for God to do that He can use as a deterrent to persecution. But instead, He warns us that persecution will come and that it may even cost us our lives.

Why? While the occasional lightning bolts seem good in theory, we would all be in trouble. We have all said something unkind to a fellow Christian or done something bad or thought something bad against a brother or sister in Christ. Therefore, for that to work, we would need to ask God to use a different standard for unbelievers when they do the wrong thing compared to when we do the wrong thing. We would be saying if I did something bad to you its ok but if a non-Christian did it then it’s not okay. That is a double standard, and God can’t work like that. Also, it would mean some people would become Christian just so they could escape the thunder bolts but not because they truly love Jesus. So all in all, not a good plan.

Ok so what else can God do? We know God can do anything and nothing is too hard for Him. Luke 1:37 tells us that with God, nothing is impossible and the Bible is not known for exaggerating so literally nothing is impossible for Him. Job 42:2 also says, “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.” God can do anything He wants to, when He wants to, how He wants to and nothing and no one can stop Him. So why then does He not intervene and stop all the bad stuff in the world and more so persecution of those who love and follow Him?

Short answer is, I do not have the answer. In fact, I don’t think anyone has the answer but we all try to explain it the best way we know how. We may be right or we may be wrong. Reality is we know in part and understand in part, only in heaven will we fully understand some of these things, 1 Corinthians 13:9-12. The tension we face in the gap between our lives here on earth and that day we will stand face to face with God is that we get to live with unanswered questions. We serve a God who can do all things, but who doesn’t always do what we expect Him to do.

What I do believe is that God intervenes in our lives far more than we know and in ways we may never understand here on earth. However, He is not a controlling God. He never wanted to be One. Which is why He gave us free will. People get to choose what they want to do, say, become, believe and so on. If God were to stop every act of evil it would mean taking away our free will and overriding us each time we chose to do something wrong. Then we wouldn’t really be free. We would be prisoners to a God who is good and who “forces us” to do good because we cannot choose evil and when we do choose evil, we cannot act it out.

God is perfect in every way including in His discernment of good and evil. Imagine what life would be like if we were limited to only doing and acting out those things which fell within His definition of good. That means, our motives and intentions are good, we are not doing it for any ulterior motive, our heart is in the right place, our thoughts are aligned with His thoughts and then we get to act out what we want to do. We’d all spend our lives in bed sleeping because we know there’s no good in us except Jesus. The good we have in us comes from Him. Left alone we would be a whole mess!

So God does not impose His goodness on us. He invites us to be more like Him and that is our journey as Christians. Letting go of how we used to see things and do things and laying hold of how God sees things and does things. This means understanding that the persecution we face comes from people, human beings exercising their free will to do what they will to do. While God sometimes steps in and protects us, other times He withholds His hand and I believe sometimes it is so He does not help one person at the expense of someone else’s free will. Sometimes it is for a purpose. Sometimes it is mercy. It is hard to see how someone dying can be mercy, but we don’t know what lay ahead for them. God does.

God is 100% good. If He does not intervene in a situation, I believe it is for a good reason. I do not need to understand it now, but I trust in His goodness. As much as God is good, He is also just. He will exercise justice in His way and in His time. We do not need to feel compelled to make things right, God will do that for us. So when persecution comes, yes, it is unjust, but we are in the hands of a God who sets things right. We trust Him to deal with it. We have entrusted God with our lives. He will rescue us and protect us and cover us. But even if the day comes when He doesn’t and we face death, we know we are in the hands of a good God.

I will leave you with this, 2 Corinthians 5:7-10 says, “That’s why we’re always full of courage. Even while we’re at home in the body, we’re homesick to be with the Master—for we live by faith, not by what we see with our eyes. We live with a joyful confidence, yet at the same time we take delight in the thought of leaving our bodies behind to be at home with the Lord. So whether we live or die we make it our life’s passion to live our lives pleasing to him.  For one day we will all be openly revealed before Christ on his throne  so that each of us will be duly recompensed for our actions done in life,  whether good or worthless.”

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano