The snatching of your little ones from your arms because of your confession of Christ is not a sign of abandonment, but an appointment to a greater struggle, like Abraham's final test when the knife was already lifted. For when the righteous are near the end of their conflicts, God enhances the struggle so that the victory may shine more brightly. Your present trial, then, is not proof of defeat but the threshold of a more glorious reward. Do not measure the goodness of God by human calculation.
He who knit those children in the womb and made them fair in your sight, stirring your hearts to faith like the parents of Moses, is the same God who now permits this separation. The parents of Moses saw a proper child and believed God had a purpose, even when a tyrant's decree hung over every cradle. Their faith did not demand an escape from danger but trusted the hidden working of grace. So it was with the Magi, who obeyed the warning to flee without asking why the Child they worshiped must become a refugee.
Great faith asks no account of what is commanded, but simply obeys. Your children are not lost to you forever; they are lent to God in a furnace of affliction, and He is able to raise them up even from the dead. The promises you have clung to may seem contradicted by these events, yet in the logic of faith they are in perfect harmony. Did not God promise Abraham a son through whom nations would be blessed, and then command him to slay that son?
They are in harmony when viewed by faith, which holds that God is able to raise the slain. Stand, then, with the shield of faith, letting it receive this first assault, and keep your conduct worthy of the gospel of peace. Do not return enmity for enmity, but show the world a life made pure by the very trial they meant for harm. The name of Christ was not given for separation but for unity and concord, and by your patient endurance you gather the faithful into a single body.
You were called to this faith not by your own strength, and the grace that called you will preserve you. Lowliness of mind makes the Christian admirable; recall that Moses was the meekest of all men and Abraham called himself dust and ashes. In this sorrow, clothe yourselves with humility, for the Father who sees in secret will not despise a contrite heart. The good tidings you have received are tidings of peace, but that peace requires a prepared way through many tribulations.
The feet shod with the preparation of the gospel mean a walk that does not stumble when the path grows dark. Your babies have been taken from an earthly home, but they remain within the care of Him who called the little children to Himself, and nothing can separate them from His love. Let this trial be to you a second baptism, a refining fire that burns away all clinging to this world, so that your hope may rest entirely on the resurrection. The light of Christ dissolves mental darkness, so do not let your minds be clouded with resentment or despair.
Instead, go on with the same ready obedience you showed when you first believed, not backward to embrace the peace that surpasses understanding. The church throughout the world is one, and her prayers rise now for you as incense. Though you cannot see the outcome, know that the grace poured out on Moses from his very swaddling clothes did not depend on Pharaoh's goodwill but on God's eternal purpose. That same grace is at work in your family.
The government that tore your children away is not outside the sovereignty of the Almighty, who can turn the heart of any ruler as a stream of water. Pray for your persecutors, bless them, and in doing so heap coals of fire on their heads, not in vengeance but in the hope that they too may call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your faith in this darkness proclaims that Christ is light, delivering from error. And if your faith passes on to the Father, then even this anguish is drawn up into the mystery of communion with the Holy Trinity.
The removal is near, at the very doors; the conflict will not endure forever, for the Judge stands at the gate. But until He comes, let your life be a preparation worthy of the gospel, that when these children are restored to your embrace, either in this age or in the age to come, they may find parents made more like the Master through suffering. Stand firm. The God who raised Jesus from the dead will raise you above this sorrow and will keep those little ones in His unchangeable love.