DEVOTION / Joy in persecution

China Partnership has published a devotional by an imprisoned Christian house church elder they call Hu Guang (a pseudonym). He was arrested and charged with fraud after he retired from leading his church. The "fraud" he was guilty of was leading a church that accepted offerings from its members. 

Guang has now spent years in prison. He writes that, at first, he struggled with God's apparent unfairness. However, he has learned that his imprisonment is a blessing to be embraced and celebrated.  

Like Job, I also did not see things from God’s point of view in the beginning. At first, my heart was not filled with true joy. I must admit, I am not one who thinks they were born to suffer for the sake of suffering. Personally, I do not think this view is in line with human character, much less grace-starved human nature. 

Only after the initial shock of disbelief did I come to realize that prison was God’s calling on me. I vividly remember raising my handcuffed hands in anger when I was arrested….. I was strongly tempted to escape. [I was] shocked by the harsh environment in jail, which was beyond imagining. Yet these many experiences of hell on earth helped me understand this was God’s way of using me. Daniel was faithful in Babylon; we must bear witness in today’s China, where prison serves as the modern-day lion’s den. 

I finally realized: God had not accepted my retirement from the church. [He has more kingdom service for me to perform.]  …This is the only explanation of my imprisonment that falls in line with the good and exalted intentions of our God Most High. When I finally understood the spiritual secret of my imprisonment, my eyes suddenly brightened, and my heart suddenly opened. Gradually, my indescribable pain and heavy sorrow disappeared. 

Like the apostles who rejoiced that the Sanhedrin punished them for following Jesus (Acts 5:41), Guang has learned to find peace and even joy in his unjust circumstances. 

Jesus' resurrection provides every believer with the same assurances.  Whatever the unfairnesses we experience, our loving Father is working out his promise to shower us with his goodness. That is why the oft-persecuted Paul encourages us, In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Read Guang’s entire devotional here.