I just saw a photo circulating from Iraq that reportedly showed a Christian man holding his daughter’s lifeless body. Her head was not attached.
I tried to hold back the tears, but because I am a human being with a heart made new, I just can’t.
And what if it were my daughter?
I can’t.
As we continue to hear about the atrocities ISIS is carrying out in Iraq, we are dealing with a complex variety of emotions. None of them are singular or static.
We are angry, and we are heartbroken.
Part of us wants blood and revenge. Yet we know there is a better way. Vengeance is right and good, but only when the One who has promised to avenge His people carries it out.
We want to do something now, while also trusting His promise of future justice.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-9
… since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
There Are Many Ways to Talk About Persecution
There are so many ways we could begin this conversation and think through this tragic situation together.
We could talk about the need to bear our brothers’ burdens with them (Galatians 6:2) as they suffer under the weight of persecution.
Another response would be to encourage them to delight even in their loss, knowing it is nothing compared with what they will receive in its place (2 Corinthians 4:17).
The whole book of Hebrews could even become a banner. We could wave it high and point to it as a source of comfort, hope and even joy (Hebrews 10:34) for brothers and sisters crumbling under the impossible weight of persecution.
But I want to take this in a different direction.
As a parent, I want to take it where I feel it taking me.
What Are the Parents Going Through?
I continue to see and hear reports of people tearing children away from their parents and murdering them, stealing their lives as though they were gods.
What are these parents going through right now, even as I sit here staring at my computer screen and trying to string these words together?
As I’m typing, my daughter is throwing a fit because I’m not giving her a piece of ice she wants.
She’s covered in bug bites and probably has a parasite from the river water she drank the other day. But she’s in no serious danger, and she likely won’t be in the near future.
She’s relatively safe.
As her father, I am tranquil because I know I can protect her from most of the dangers she will encounter as a two-year-old.
No one is coming to our house, kicking in our door, demanding conversion, raping my wife or beheading my children.
If I were in Mosul, Iraq, though, those fears would not seem so distant. Christian families across northern Iraq are fleeing homes and communities as ISIS advances.
So to Christian parents suffering through this, I just want to say something:
God, our Father in heaven, understands, and He is with you as you suffer.
God Knows the Loss of a Son
God lost His Son.
For the sake of love, the good of our souls and the glory of His own name, God gave up the most beautiful, precious, pure and wonderful thing ever to touch this sin-stained world: His Son.
I can only imagine the pain of losing a child. It must be among the worst things any of us can endure while still in these mortal bodies.
The God you serve knows and understands this terrible, excruciating pain.
Because He is good, and because He loves you, He will not let it be for nothing.
Your daughters. Your sons. My Christian brothers and sisters, the kingdom of God will honor them.
Their deaths will reverberate throughout eternity. They are already there, bathing in the glory of the One who made them.
It Will Not Be for Nothing
Whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will find it (Matthew 10:39).
As you watched your children breathe their last breath and close their eyes into eternity, you did nothing short of lose your own life.
You died a thousand deaths.
Still, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you are His, it will not be in vain.
It will not be for nothing.
As you wait for God to bring His justice upon your enemies and His, I encourage you to pray. Ask for help in your time of need.
Read His Word and let the God who can truly conquer sin and death take hold of you.
If possible, gather together. Encourage each other to stand firm in this day of tribulation.
Remember that you are only here as a vapor.
Soon enough, my dear brothers and sisters, He will wipe away every tear from your eyes. You will be with Him in perfect peace as you reign with Him forever and ever.
Amen.
To anyone reading this who hasn’t prayed for our brothers and sisters: “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3).
This is not a suggestion.