Why do people who are faithful to God undergo undeserved trials and suffering?
We can answer that question directly from the bible by comparing people who had the “big picture” of the real world with those who didn’t.
In the book of Psalms, there are a number of places where the Psalmist will express dismay and disillusionment, or even complete despair, over the calamities that have befallen the people of God. Here’s an example:
9But you have rejected us and disgraced us
and have not gone out with our armies.
10You have made us turn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11You have made us like sheep for slaughter
and have scattered us among the nations.
. . .
13You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.
14You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
15All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
16at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
17All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
18Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way;
. . .
22Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
23Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
24Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
The Psalmist doesn’t feel like he’s being punished; he feels forsaken and abandoned by God.
In sharp contrast we find Paul and his colleague Silas in the city of Philippi:
The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, Acts 16:22–25
Why the difference? (The fact that we live under a new covenant has little if anything to do with it.)
Of course, Paul and Silas have the spirit of God, but so did the Old Testament writers. The difference lies in their vantage point. Paul sees the bigger story, not just one scene in the great drama. He knows that his persecution is not meaningless. He understands that we are in the midst of a great spiritual battle between God and the forces of evil, and he knows that his suffering is an inevitable consequence of that conflict. He also knows that Satan is real and active and dangerous:
11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:11–12
A soldier in battle is not surprised when he is attacked by the enemy. But the person who is not even aware that there is a war or that he has a brutal, ruthless enemy, will be shocked or destroyed by the assault.
If we ignore the reality of the spiritual beings who are conducting this battle against God and His people, then we are in grave danger, and we will end up blaming either God or ourselves for the inevitable, undeserved suffering that Christians experience. The Psalmist cries out in despair because he does not have the big picture. Paul and Silas can be stripped, beaten with rods, thrown into prison, and come up singing and praying, because they understand that they “are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against the spiritual hosts of wickedness” that are brutally active in this world.
So in the midst of the battle and its inevitable hardships and suffering, we must stop and remember the big picture so that we, like Paul and Silas, can actually “rejoice in our sufferings.”
[1] The devil and his angel are not some literary personification of evil. Throughout the scriptures these beings are treated as real and active. They are the opponents whom Jesus came to defeat, and they are a real danger that Christians must take seriously. See: 1 Chronicles 21:1; Job 2:3,5,9; Zechariah 3:1–4; Luke 22:31; John 13:2Acts 26:17–18; 10:38; Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 7:5; 2 Corinthians 2:10–11; 11:14; Ephesians 4:26–27; 6:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–10; 1 Timothy 3:6–7; 5:15; Hebrews 2:14–15; James 4:7–8; 1 Peter 5:8;1 John 3:8;Revelation 12:9–12.
[1] Acts 5:41; Colossians 1:24; I Peter 4:13.