I think there is a tremendous lesson for us here. The lesson is not just that God is sovereign and turns setbacks to triumphs. The lesson is that comfort and ease and affluence and prosperity and safety and freedom often cause a tremendous inertia in the church. Inertia is the tendency of something that is standing still to stay standing still and of something moving to keep moving. I know it's true, from Jesus' parable of the four soils, that some fall away during persecution because they have no root.
Persecution can have harmful effects on the church.
But prosperity, it seems, is even more devastating to the mission to which God calls us. My point here is not that we should seek persecution. The second encouraging thing to see in this text is that Stephen is honored and not blamed. The persecution in Jerusalem started because of Stephen. It's always hotheads like this that get the church into trouble.