Eastern Lightning | God's word | Interpretation of the Fifth Utterance
When God makes demands of humanity that are difficult for them to explain, and when His words strike directly into the human heart and people offer up their sincere hearts for Him to enjoy, then God gives people the chance to ponder, make a resolution, and seek out a path for practice. In this way, all those who are His people will once again, with fists clenched in determination, offer their whole being up to God. Some, perhaps, might draw up a plan and set up a daily schedule, as they prepare to stir themselves and get to work, dedicating their portion of energy to God’s plan of management, in order to bring glory upon this plan and speed up its conclusion. And, just as people are caught up in this psychological state, holding these things closely in their minds as they go about their chores, as they talk, and as they work, God, quickly following up on this, begins to speak again: “When My Spirit gives voice, it expresses the whole of My disposition. Are you clear on this?” The more determined a human being is, the more desperately he will yearn to grasp God’s will and the more earnestly he will yearn for God to make demands of him; and so God will give people what they want, taking advantage of this opportunity to impart His words, long held in readiness, to the innermost recesses of their being. Although these words may seem a bit harsh or gruff, to humanity they are sweet beyond compare. Straight away, the heart blossoms with joy, as if humanity were in heaven, or had been transported to another realm, a veritable paradise of the imagination, where the affairs of the outside world no longer impinge upon humanity. In order that people will not, as they were in the habit of doing in the past, speak from the outside and act from the outside, and so fail to lay down proper roots: in order to circumvent this eventuality, when what people desire in their hearts has been achieved, and moreover when they prepare to go to work with passionate enthusiasm, God still adapts His way of speaking to their psychological state, and, summarily and without holding back, confutes all the ardor and religious ceremony within their hearts. As God has said: “Have you truly seen the importance that lies herein?” Whether before or after a human being sets his resolve upon something, he does not put great importance upon knowing God in His actions or in His words, but rather keeps on pondering the question: “What can I do for God? That’s the key issue!” This is why God says: “And you have the nerve to call yourselves My people to My face—you have no sense of shame, still less any reason!” As soon as God has spoken these words, people immediately come to their realization, and as though sustaining an electric shock, they hasten to withdraw their hands into the safety of their bosoms, fearful of provoking God’s wrath a second time. In addition to this, God has also said: “Sooner or later, people like this will be expelled from My house. Don’t you come the old soldier with Me, thinking that you have stood for My testimony!” Hearing words like these, people are even more afraid, as they would be if they had sighted a lion. They know full well in their hearts. They are, on the one hand, concerned not to be eaten by the lion while on the other feeling at a loss where to escape. At this moment, the plan inside the human heart vanishes without a trace, utterly and completely. Through God’s words, I feel as if I can see every single aspect of humanity’s shamefulness: Drooping head and hangdog demeanor, like a candidate who’s failed the college entrance exam, his lofty ideals, happy family, bright future, and so on and so forth, all turned—along with the Four Modernizations by the Year 2000—into empty talk, creating an imaginary scenario in a science fiction film. This is to exchange passive for active elements, making people, in the midst of their passivity, stand up in the place God has assigned them. Exceptionally important is the fact that human beings are deeply afraid of losing this appellation, and so they cling for dear life to their own badges of office, fearful that someone might wrest them away. When humanity is in this frame of mind, God does not worry that they will become passive, and so He accordingly changes His words of judgment to words of interrogation. Not only does He give people a chance to catch their breath, but He also gives them a chance to take the aspirations they have had before now and sort them out for future reference: What is unsuitable can be modified. This is because God has not yet begun His work—this is a piece of good fortune in the midst of great misfortune—and, moreover, does not condemn them. So let me continue to give Him all my devotion!
