Opus 2024-302: Magnets for Persecution

As I contemplate what the Bible says about persecution, I keep wondering how that works together with the hand Providence for testing us and the promises of God about being protected.  It’s another one of those conflicting ideas that need to be worked out.  We delve into them by reading scripture, by thinking and by listening to the Holy Spirit.

One of the people in the Bible talks about persecution as the apostle Paul.

2 Corinthians 11:25 (KJV) 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;

If you follow his narrative in the book of Acts, you find these some of these events disclosed, others we don’t know where they fit in.  The point is Paul went through serious persecution.

Then I think of one of the other great figures in Bible history, Moses.  Moses went through a lot of things that we would considered difficult, but there is no evidence that I can think of where he was outright persecuted.  He lived in the desert for much of his life.  That was just a normal way of life in those days.  He was denied the promised land.  But nowhere can I think of any out and out persecution.

Why the difference?  Is it significant?  In fact, I have a hard time coming up with any other Bible personality, other than possibly the prophets who went through any persecution for spiritual reasons.

The thought occurred to me that Paul was persecuted because he went looking for it.  Think about it.  Paul was definitely a Type A personality.  Before he was converted, he was out hunting down Christians.  He went to the Sanhedrin to get permission to jail them. Then if you follow his life as he went out as a missionary, he was very very aggressive and confrontational.

Paul could not even get along with Barnabas, who is known as the Son of Reconciliation.  They had a falling out over John Mark whom Paul also didn’t get along with.  We don’t see these kind of complex in Barnabas, who also went as a missionary.  Timothy, who served as a pastor seem to have been free from persecution.

Moses on the other hand did everything he could to keep from becoming the leader of Israel.  He suggested Aaron.  He came up with all kinds of excuses.  He was generally not a Type A personality, and was only serving in leadership, because God forced the issue.

Both men were used of God.

This is not intended as a final statement about persecution, just an observation.  There are other words such as affliction and tribulation which speak to us also.  It is an indication though that being sent off to the gulag may not be a done deal.  The really good news is that even if we are sent up the river, He will be with us.

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