They were all scattered

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. – Acts 8.1

While we tend to shy away from persecution and trials there are a lot of positive things that can happen through it if God's people are willing to let God use them.

If we look back to the attempt by Pharaoh to wipe out the Jews we remember that 'the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and grew.' Earlier is acts we read that as the persecution increased the numbers of new Christians grew. We now read about another mass persecution and the uninterested consequences it brought.

We know from Acts 1.8 that God intended for the gospel to spread far beyond Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. I don’t know whether these folks were holding back and needed a little encouragement or not, but God found a way to get them on their way.

We never know what God has planned when things don’t go the way we think they should. I doubt that very many of our brethren saw Nero’s persecution as a good thing, but God had something in store through it.

God is always at work. Instead of worrying so much about how the world is turning against God’s people, maybe we need to concentrate on using seeing this as further opportunities to share the gospel.