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Part Three - The Path of Life
Chapter 15 Faith
11) Testing
3. Trials Forge Character and Build Unshakable Faith
World Scripture
And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out upon you, and your foot did not swell, these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. Deuteronomy 8.2-5
Mencius said, “Shun rose from the fields; Fu Yüeh was raised to office from among the builders; Chiao Ke from amid the fish and salt; Kuan Chung from the hands of the prison officer; Sun Shu-ao from the sea and Po-li Hsi from the market. That is why Heaven, when it is about to place a great burden on a man, always first tests his resolution, exhausts his frame, makes him suffer starvation and hardship, and frustrates his efforts so as to shake him from his mental lassitude, toughen his nature and make good his deficiencies.” Mencius VI.B.15 (Confucianism)
And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I [Paul] besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12.7-10
Life is like a hill. Mawu the Creator made it steep and slippery, To right and left deep waters surround it, You cannot turn back once you start to climb. You must climb with a load on your head. A man’s arms will not help him, for it’s a trial, The world is a place of trial. Fon Song (African Traditional Religions)
Moses… found one of our servants to whom We had given mercy from Ourselves and taught him knowledge from Our very presence. Moses said to him, “May I follow you so you may teach me some of the common sense you have been taught?” He said, “You will never have any patience with me! How can you show any patience with something that is beyond your experience?”
He said, “You will find me patient, if God so wishes. I will not disobey you in any matter.” He said, “If you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I tell you something to remember it by.”
So they both started out until, as they boarded a ship, he bored a hole in her. [Moses] said, “Have you scuttled her to drown her crew? You have done such a weird thing!” He said, “Didn’t I say that you would not manage to show any patience with me?” He said, “Do not take me to task for what I have forgotten, nor weigh me down by making my case too difficult for me.”
They journeyed on and when they met a youth, he killed him. Moses said, “Have you killed an innocent soul, who himself had not murdered another? You have committed such a horrible deed!” He said, “Did I not tell you that you would never manage to have any patience with me?” He said, “If I ever ask you about anything after this, do not let me accompany you. You have found an excuse so far as I am concerned.”
They both proceeded further till when they came to the people of a town, they asked its inhabitants for some food, and they refused to treat either of them hospitably. They found a wall there which was about to tumble down, so he set it straight. Moses said, “If you had wished, you might have accepted some payment for it.” He said, “This means a parting between you and me. Yet I shall inform you about the interpretation of what you had no patience for.
“As for the ship, it belonged to some poor men who worked at sea. I wanted to damage it because there was a king behind them seizing every ship by force. The young man’s parents were believers, and we dreaded lest he would burden them with arrogation and disbelief. We wanted the Lord to replace him for them with someone better than him in purity and nearer to tenderness. The wall belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and a treasure of theirs lay underneath it. Their father had been honorable, so your Lord wanted them to come of age and claim their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. That is the interpretation of what you showed no patience for.”22 Qur’an 18.65-82
If the Holy One is pleased with a man, He crushes him with painful sufferings. For it is said, “And the Lord was pleased with him, hence He crushed him by disease” (Isaiah 53.10). Now, you might think that this is so even if he did not accept them with love. Therefore it is said, “To see if his soul would offer itself in restitution.” Even as the trespass-offering must be brought by consent, so also the sufferings must be endured with consent. And if he did accept them, what is his reward? “He will see his seed, prolong his days.” And more than that, his knowledge [of Torah] will endure with him. For it is said, “The purpose of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”23 Talmud, Berakot 5a (Judaism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Undergoing many trials in your life of faith, lay the foundation of victory and make yourself a solid rock which God can trust. (Way of God’s Will 3.4)
God is with you only after you win over your environment. (Way of God’s Will 3.2)
You should have a mind to test whether you qualify as God’s good object partners, whether you are living in one accord with Him. How can find out whether you have the qualifications? You should throw yourself into situations of suffering and hardship. Sometimes you may think that you cannot survive the ordeal. However, these tests are the means by which you can prove your worth and establish your value. (66:45, March 18, 1973)
As we walk on and on, shall we say our way is steep? We cannot compare our anguished hearts with the anguish of Thy heart, or compare how we are mistreated with the footprints Thou didst leave in Satan’s realm, where Thou wast blocked at every turn. Even as we go along this steep way, may a sense of mission well up in our hearts to take responsibility for the Will of Heaven. (4:293-94, September 14, 1958)
God is unchanging. However, in order to create unchanging people, He tests you by appearing as a changeable, capricious God. But God’s capriciousness is only from your viewpoint. God appears to contradict Himself when He sometimes says, “Do this!” and later says, “No, do that!” First He says, “Go!” and then He says, “No, come!” God tests you by appearing to change from one moment to the next in order to find whether you are a person whose faith in Him will never change. (66:46, March 18, 1973)
During the Korean War that broke out on June 25th, 1950, I would see mothers carrying their young children on their backs, refugees on the road to the South. Yet the children were too young to know that they are traveling as refugees to escape from war. A child, having been told that he and his family are going somewhere, is at first happy to go and even hums. Then the mother who has been carrying him on her back loses strength along the way and makes the child walk. After a while the child says, “Mommy, no. I’m not going if you don’t carry me on your back. Carry me on your back, carry me!”
What should a loving parent do in such a situation? She ought to carry the child, but if she carries him, both of them will die. What, then, should she do? She should make him walk. If he refuses to walk, she must threaten him and even slap his face to make him walk. By all means, they must reach their place of refuge.
What would you do if you were the mother? Would you leave him behind to die, or would you drag him by force? Which is the best way? Leave him behind to die? You do not like either alternative, but what will you do? You have to take him, no matter what. You have to drag him mercilessly, even by tearing and pulling his ears, or by making a hole in his nose and pulling him by a leash. Under the circumstances, that is real love. (32:256, July 19, 1970)
Makest Thy cruel winds whip the faces of these young people;
stir up the storm-wind and hurricane to push them and drive them back.
In the midst of wind and frost they will remain honorable,
become rock-hard young men and women, and emerge as victors. (121:187, October 24, 1982)
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