Enduring Persecution
“…what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.” II Timothy 3:11
One morning last week, I woke up with the above portion of II Timothy 3:11 running through my mind. There was one word, however, that the Lord seemed to be emphasizing – that word was “endured”. That same morning, one of my devotionals went perfectly with the thought of enduring persecution. (I will share it at the end of this post.) The girls and I had a profitable time discussing these thoughts which included defining the two words:
endure – “To bear with patience; to bear without opposition or sinking under the pressure.
persecution – “The act or practice of persecuting; the infliction of pain, punishment or death upon others unjustly, particularly for adhering to a religious creed or mode of worship, either by way of penalty or for compelling them to renounce their principles.”
As Christians, I fear that too often we feel as if we are suffering persecution when in reality we are not. Included in the above definition for persecution is the keyword “unjustly”. To put it simply, the suffering we experience may, at times, be due to our own wrong-doing. When we are going through a time of affliction from others, it would be a good idea to ask ourselves – “Have I brought this on myself?” “Am I reaping, perhaps, a prideful spirit or a rotten attitude or _________ that, in the past, was sown toward this individual?” An instance comes to my mind in my own life where I was certain that persecution was my lot. My reaction, at the time, was a mixture of self-pity as well as indignation and self-justification. “How dare they!” However, the Lord began to do a work in my heart. (How very thankful I am for His long-suffering!) Very gently He began to show me that, although some of the affliction was indeed unjust, part of my suffering was simply a case of “sowing and reaping”. That, my friend, was a tough pill for me to swallow…but I am very thankful to the Lord for loving me enough to administer the medicine that I needed!
If, after a prayerful self-examination, we conclude that our suffering is indeed persecution, we must ask ourselves – “How am I handling this?” That brings us to that other word – “endure”. Are we, as the Apostle Paul, enduring our persecution? Are we bearing it with patience? Are we bearing it without opposition? The last phrase of the verse says, “…but out of them all the Lord delivered me.” As I thought on all of this last week, I couldn’t help but wonder – does God allow persecution to continue until we stop opposing and start bearing with patience? Does He wait for us to stop justifying ourselves to others and instead humble ourselves before Him? Paul endured the unjust suffering that the Lord allowed in his life therefore God delivered him.
Is our response to persecution prolonging our deliverance?
Before we ended our discussion last week, I challenged myself and the girls to think of times when we had experienced persecution in our lives – based on the above definitions. Without naming the instances that came to our minds, we then looked at the following verses (the Apostle Paul speaking):
“Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” II Corinthians 11:23-27
I’m sure this could go without saying – at that point, I just wanted to quietly get up from my soft chair in my air-conditioned living room and go spend some time thanking God for His mercy to me…for His protection…for allowing me to be born in America! We here in the good ol’ USA are a pretty soft bunch of believers, don’t you think?
Below is the devotional I mentioned, followed by another that I read two days later. Both were taken from Streams in the Desert.
“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:” II Thessalonians 1:3,4
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” II Timothy 2:3