God Is the Source of Man’s Life
From the moment you come crying into this world, you begin to fulfill your responsibilities. For the sake of God’s plan and His ordination, you play your role and start your life’s journey. Whatever your background may be, and whatever the journey ahead of you may be, in any case, no one can escape the orchestrations and arrangements of Heaven, and no one can control their own fate, for only He who is sovereign over all things is capable of such work. Ever since man came into existence in the beginning, God has always been performing His work in this manner, managing the universe, and directing the laws of change for all things and the trajectory of their movement. Like all things, man is quietly and unknowingly being nourished by the sweetness and rain and dew from God; like all things, man unknowingly lives under the orchestration of God’s hand. Man’s heart and spirit are within God’s grasp, and everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe all this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. This is how God holds sovereignty over all things.
As the night quietly approaches, man is unaware, for the heart of man cannot perceive how the night approaches, nor whence it comes. As the night quietly slips away, man welcomes the light of day, but as for whence the light has come, and how it has driven away the darkness of the night, man knows even less, and is even less aware. These recurrent alternations of day and night take man from one period into another, from one historical context to the next, while also ensuring that the work of God in every period and His plan for every age are carried out. Man has walked through all these different periods following God, yet he knows not that God holds sovereignty over the fate of all things and living beings, nor how God orchestrates and directs all things. This has eluded man of the present day and even man of time immemorial. As for why, it is not because the deeds of God are too hidden, nor because the plan of God has yet to be realized, but because the heart and spirit of man are too distant from God, to the point where man remains in the service of Satan even as he follows God—and still doesn’t know it. No one actively seeks out God’s footsteps and the appearance of God, and no one is willing to exist in the care and protection of God. Instead, they are willing to rely on the corrosion of Satan, the evil one, to adapt to this world, and to the rules of existence that this evil mankind follows. At this point, the heart and spirit of man become the tribute that man offers to Satan and become Satan’s foodstuff. Even more, the human heart and spirit become a place in which Satan resides, as well as its rightful playground. Thus does man unknowingly lose his understanding of the principles of being human, and of the value and significance of human existence. The laws of God and the covenant between God and man gradually become hazy in man’s heart, and he ceases to look for or pay heed to God. With the passage of time, man has lost their understanding of the significance of God creating him, nor does he understand the words from the mouth of God and all that comes from God. Man then begins to resist the laws and statutes of God, and his heart and spirit become numb…. God loses the man that He created in the beginning, and man loses the root he originally had: This is the tragedy of this human race. In point of fact, from the very beginning until now, God has staged a tragedy for mankind, one in which man is both the protagonist and the victim. And no one can answer who the director of this tragedy is.
In the vast expanse of the world, oceans silt into fields, and fields flood into oceans, countless times over. Except for He who holds sovereignty over everything among all things, there is no one who is able to lead and guide this human race. There is no “mighty one” to toil or make preparations for this human race, still less is there anyone who can lead this human race toward the destination of light and liberate it from earthly injustices. God laments the future of mankind, He grieves at the fall of mankind, and is pained that mankind is marching, step by step, toward decay and the path of no return. No one has ever given thought to this: Which direction might such a mankind, who has thoroughly broken the heart of God and renounced Him to seek the evil one, be headed? It is precisely for this reason that no one tries to sense the wrath of God, that no one seeks the way that pleases God or tries to draw closer to God, and even more so that no one tries to appreciate God’s grief and pain. Even after hearing the voice of God, man continues on his own path, continues turning away from God, evading God’s grace and care, and shunning His truth, preferring to sell himself to Satan, the enemy of God. And who has given any thought to, should man persist in his obduracy, how God will treat this mankind that so utterly disdains Him? No one knows that the reason for God’s repeated reminders and exhortations toward man is because He has prepared in His hands a calamity like never before, one that will be unbearable to the flesh and soul of man, not merely a punishment of the flesh, but one that targets the soul of man. You need to know this: What kind of rage will God unleash when His plan falls through, and when His reminders and exhortations are not repaid? It will be like nothing that has ever been experienced or known by any created being. And so I say, this calamity is without precedent, and will never be repeated. For God’s plan is to create mankind only this once, and to save mankind only this once. This is the first time, and it is also the last. Therefore, no one can appreciate the painstaking intentions and fervent anticipation with which God saves mankind this time.
God created this world and brought man, a living being unto which He bestowed life, into it. Next, man came to have parents and kin, and was no longer alone. Ever since man first laid eyes on this material world, he was destined to exist within the ordination of God. The breath of life from God supports each and every living being throughout growth into adulthood. During this process, no one feels that man is growing up under the care of God; rather, they believe that man is doing so under the loving care of his parents, and that it is his own life instinct that directs his growing up. This is because man knows not who bestowed his life, or from whence it came, much less the way in which the instinct of life creates miracles. He knows only that food is the basis on which his life continues, that perseverance is the source of his life’s existence, and that the beliefs in his mind are the capital upon which his survival depends. Of God’s grace and provision, man is utterly oblivious, and it is in this way that he fritters away the life bestowed upon him by God…. Not a single one of this humanity that God cares for day and night takes it upon themselves to worship Him. God only continues to work on man, for whom He holds out no expectations, as He has planned. He does so in the hope that one day, man will awaken from his dream and suddenly realize the value and meaning of life, the price God paid for all that He has given him, and the eager solicitude with which God waits for man to turn back to Him. No one has ever looked into the secrets concerning the origin and continuation of man’s life. Only God, who understands all of this, silently endures the hurt and the blows that man, who has received everything from God but is not thankful, gives Him. Man enjoys all that life brings as a matter of course, and, likewise, it is “a matter of course” that God is betrayed by man, forgotten by man, and extorted by man. Could it be that God’s plan is truly of such importance? Could it be that man, this living being that came from the hand of God, is truly of such importance? The plan of God is assuredly of importance; however, this living being created by the hand of God exists for the sake of His plan. Therefore, God cannot lay waste to His plan out of hatred for this human race. It is for the sake of His plan and for the breath He exhaled that God endures all torments, not for the flesh of man but for the life of man. He does so in order to take back not the flesh of man but the life He breathed out. This is His plan.
All who come into this world must pass through life and death, and the majority of them have passed through the cycle of death and rebirth. Those who are living will soon die, and the dead will soon return. All of this is the course of life arranged by God for each living being. Yet this course and this cycle are precisely the fact that God wishes for man to behold: that the life bestowed upon man by God is endless, unfettered by physicality, time, or space. Such is the mystery of life bestowed upon man by God, and proof that life came from Him. Though many may not believe that man’s life came from God, man inevitably enjoys all that comes from God, whether they believe in or deny His existence. Should God one day have a sudden change of heart and wish to reclaim all that exists in the world and to take back the life He has given, then all shall be no more. God uses His life to supply all things, both living and lifeless, bringing all to good order by virtue of His might and authority. This is a fact that can be conceived or comprehended by none, and these incomprehensible facts are the very manifestation of, and testament to, the life force of God. Now let Me tell you a secret: The greatness of the life of God and the power of His life are unfathomable to any created being. It is thus now, as it was in the past, and it will be thus in the time to come. The second secret I shall impart is this: The source of life for all creatures comes from God, however different they may be in life form or structure; whatever kind of living being you are, you cannot turn against the life trajectory set by God. In any case, all I wish is for man to understand this: Without the care, protection, and provision of God, man cannot receive all that he was meant to receive, no matter how diligently he tries or how arduously he struggles. Without the supply of life from God, man loses the value of living and the meaning of life. How could God allow man, who frivolously wastes the value of His life, to be so carefree? As I have said before: Do not forget that God is the source of your life. If man fails to cherish all that God has bestowed, not only will God take back what He gave in the beginning, but He will make man repay Him double the price of all that He has given.
May 26, 2003