1.) Because the situation makes work very hard for missionaries and Christian workers in those countries.
2.) Because many souls a day are passing into an eternity without Christ.
Some nations are in great turmoil. Myanmar is an example. Many there are dying every day due to violence and oppression that is a result of the military coup in Myanmar. One missionary said Christians in Myanmar are sharing the gospel as fast as they can. So many are dying that they do not know who will be the next to die. They cannot reach all the people with the gospel, but they are reaching as many as they can as fast as they can. One missionary (and those working with him) had the option to leave. After praying they decided, “No, we will stay and die with our people.”
Covid is claiming the lives of thousands of people in India and other countries. Although, when one looks at statistics, the mortality rate seems fairly low in proportion to the infection rate, there are millions of people infected. This is causing many thousands of deaths. Others are very seriously ill. In India and some other places, hospitals are overwhelmed. I have personal friends who are affected by this situation. The Indian strain has been found in seventeen countries so far, including the US, UK, several European countries, Brazil, and Singapore.
Other nations of the world are having considerable unrest. In North Korea, there is some uprising. The country still has probably the most repressive regime in the world, yet the political situation even there is unstable. Conditions there for the average citizen are beyond what most of us in the Western world are even able to fathom.
We live in relative peace here in the US. Though there is trouble and unrest, we still live fairly sheltered lives compared to much of the rest of the world. Sometimes, it is easy to settle into our comfortable life and think, “Oh well, this is going on elsewhere in the world. It doesn’t affect me.” But, even we have no guarantee of tomorrow. In fact, we have no guarantee of the next ten minutes. However, everyone who has Jesus Christ as Savior has guarantee of eternity.
We should not let our heart be troubled. We should not be overwhelmed with what is going on in the world. But, neither should we turn a blind eye and pretend nothing is happening. We should not be happy in our little bubble while millions perish without Christ around the world. II Peter 3:9 says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
At the very least, we must pray. Give to those doing God’s work. If God opens, the door, we should be willing to go. The need is urgent, time is fleeting, day is coming to a close, and it will not be long before “the night cometh, when no man can work.” (See John 9:40)