“Dear friends, do not
be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something
strange were happening to you. But rejoice
that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed
when his glory is revealed. If you are
insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed for the spirit of glory
and of God rests on you. If you suffer,
it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even
as a meddler. However, if you suffer as
a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” -1 Peter 4: 12-16
This morning I gathered with the Iraqi women’s Bible study
group. The subject was the verse
above. The Bible study was in Arabic, of
course, so there were many words that I didn’t know, but I was able to follow
and take some notes. The message of this
passage was very interesting to discuss in a room full of refugees, especially
when many of them have been or directly know someone who has been persecuted
because of their Christian faith. When
the leader asked for prayer requests, one of the women shared the story of a
man who passed away last week. Both of
his sons were kidnapped in Iraq. One of
them was returned but the other is still missing and no one knows where he is
or what has happened to him. This
missing son has six children. They
described that this man passed away from the stress of what is happening to his
family. Please join us in keeping this
family in your prayers, especially now pray that the missing son will be
returned to safety with his family. The
other prayer request, which is shared by all Iraqi refugees, is for the United
Nations to approve them for immigration to the United States or other European
countries. Whenever someone receives the
news that they have been approved, they come excitedly to the center to tell
everyone and they are met with applause and congratulations.
In discussing the scripture above, we focused on the truth
that God uses Peter to both warn and prepare Christians for the troubles and
persecutions that will come. He doesn’t
tell us that everything will be great and easy for us as Christians. He tells us and those earliest Christians, in
the same breath, that there will be difficult times. We must reflect on this and prepare our
hearts and our faith so that it will endure trials. We also discussed that it is okay for us to
cry and have sadness when we experience tragedies and difficult times just as
Jesus wept. However, the blessing of
being a Christian is that through all circumstances, people from the outside
should be able to see the joy and strength of a heart that belongs to God. Above all, from this Bible study, I took the
message that as Christians we must not turn our backs on God and lose faith
when we go through difficult times because that is when we most need the
strength of the Lord and the gift of faith and peace and hope is a most
beautiful miracle in our lives.
