“Why, God?”
Not far from my present location is North Korea, a place of torment and death for Christians. Even closer is China, a land where faithful Christians are harassed and jailed with impunity. Both once fell under the shadow of the Japanese Empire, in which realm Christians were imprisoned and tortured for many years.
Why do the children of God suffer so greatly in this world?
In one sense, the answer is simple. As the Lord Jesus said:
I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [John 15:19b]
But the answer is less obvious if what you’re really asking is, “Why does God intend His children to suffer so greatly in this world?”
I want to answer this question by looking at two historic examples of Christian suffering, by which I mean any suffering endured by a believer not as a consequence of their own sin. Then I will share some concluding thoughts.
The Case of Esther Kim
Several years ago I read a book by Esther Kim called If I Perish. Kim lived in Korea during the Japanese occupation and had witnessed the brutal treatment of Christians who refused to bow before Shinto shrines. Though she herself had bowed, one day she became convicted of her idolatry. In 1939, she set out on a journey to Tokyo, believing God had sent her to warn Japan’s political leaders that “the people would be destroyed by fire from heaven unless they turned away from idolatry and worshiped the living God with all their hearts.” [p. 60]
When she reached her hotel room, however, she was overwhelmed by the seeming impossibility of her task.
I opened the front window and looked down on the Tokyo business district of tall buildings standing, row upon row. And the people. Everywhere I looked there were people—pushing, shoving crowds of people. Not many of them knew about the colonization policy that was in effect in Korea…
Would people like that listen to what I had to say? I asked the Lord how a frail woman such as I and an old man like Elder Park… would be able to do anything against so great a nation. We were like two gulls crying loudly into the teeth of the raging wind, trying to still its blowing. [p. 67]
That expression, “gulls crying loudly into the teeth of the raging wind,” captures the experience of God’s people throughout most of history.
Consider the situation of the Israelites in Egypt. They were slaves in one of the greatest empires on Earth. Faced with overwhelming odds, they had no way of liberating themselves. They were like gulls blown about in a storm. The raging wind paid no heed to their cries.
Then God sent ten plagues on Egypt. He could have rescued the Israelites with just one, but He sent ten. Consequently, the delivery of the Israelites was postponed and their suffering was prolonged. But God acted this way because he had a higher priority than the rescue of His people. As He said to Pharaoh:
For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. [Exodus 9:15–16]
So, also, in the case of the Japanese Empire, God was slow to bring judgment on Japan. The rescue of Korean Christians was postponed and their suffering was prolonged, but again, because God’s higher priority was the glory of His name.
Some part of this delay owed to the slander Christians brought upon Him in both Japan and Korea. Japanese Christian parents had for decades sent their children to schools where they knew they would be bowing before the image of a deified emperor and participating in Shinto ceremonies. Many Korean churches submitted to Shinto ceremonies, while one of the largest denominations later made participation in those ceremonies a condition of membership. Relatively few foreign missionaries opposed these developments, and a significant number themselves took part in the Shinto rites.
If God were to quickly rescue those who so dishonorably bear His name, how would His holiness be vindicated? Would they not simply go on dishonoring Him?
Thus it became the part of a loyal remnant to suffer, and by their suffering to show the worth of God to a compromising world.
The Case of Early Rain Covenant Church
I remember when China cracked down on Early Rain Covenant Church in December 2018. Many of its members were arrested and their pastor, Wang Yi, received a nine-year jail sentence the following year. The church continues to suffer persecution today.
But several months before the crackdown began, Wang set the suffering of Chinese Christians in its grander context.
Why have we seen the gospel flourish in China over the past few decades? Because the Chinese church has been imprisoned for the sake of this gospel. For the sake of the mystery of this gospel, the Chinese church has been bound, banished, despised, and persecuted for more than half a century up until the present day…
And as a result, the gospel that the Chinese church has been preaching has not yet provided Chinese Christians with any worldly benefits. In China, Satan cannot say that the reason so many people in China believe in Jesus is because believing in him guarantees them success or social status or the respect of the authorities or the protection of the law. Through the Chinese church, God has made his manifold wisdom known to Satan and to the authorities in the heavenly places. Amen!
Wang Yi, “This Mystery of the Gospel,” preached in Chengdu on 27 May 2018.
Long ago, Satan questioned God’s claim that Job was “a blameless and upright man,” saying, “You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” [Job 1:8-11]
Yet many Christians in China have praised God even when it means they will lose everything. Like David, they believe “your steadfast love is better than life” [Psalm 63:3] and, like Moses, they count “the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.” [Hebrews 11:26]
God could rescue all of China’s Christians today, but He has chosen otherwise. He has made them gulls in the raging wind. These Christians could leave for quieter climes, but they choose to head into that storm.
They will not sell their allegiance to the Lord for any price, and thus their suffering shows the worth of God to the entire cosmos.
Concluding Thoughts
Why, then, do the children of God suffer so greatly in this world?
We suffer for the glory of His name.
The more impossible the situation, the more clearly God’s grace and power can be seen in us.
Although the examples I cited above relate to persecution, this truth applies to every instance of Christian suffering.
Sickness, for example, is usually inexplicable. It is not normally caused by sin, nor by another person, and so there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.
But we know that true Christians have a peace that seems equally inexplicable to the unbelieving world. Non-Christians, too, suffer sickness, but they have no access to the hope that a Christian experiences even in the midst of pain. They will want what you have, and through you, they will learn that Christ is the source of all your comfort.
Thus, even sickness is not meaningless, because in it we can show the worth of God.
Whatever your own situation, consider that God has placed you there as a gull in the raging wind. No matter how insurmountable the circumstances may appear, you are not there by accident. Look not merely to how God will rescue you in the future, but to how He intends His glory to be seen in you today.
“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…” [1 Thessalonians 1:6]
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