Title: Little Things, Big Things
God is good to the honest and the pure in heart, but I lost that confidence and almost fell. I almost lost that belief and slipped. Because I was envious of the arrogant, and envied the peace of the wicked. When they die, there is no pain, and their bodies are intact and radiant. They do not have the same sufferings that people are used to, and they do not come close to the calamities that people usually suffer. For them, arrogance is their necklace, and violence is their robe. They get fat and go about arrogantly with their eyes wide open, earning more than their heart expects, always laughing at others, shooting venomous words, and arrogantly reveling. It slanders the heavens with its mouth, and sweeps the earth with its tongue.
Job also cried out to God for his incomprehensible suffering and asked why. To this, the Lord asks, "Who are you, that you doubt my wisdom with ignorance and vain words?" I keep asking where you were when I laid the foundation of the earth, who designed it, who laid the foundation of it, and so on. The problem of suffering is that humans cannot solve it. I don't know why, and I don't know why.
Allen, the first missionary to come to our country, tried to protect our nation to the end, but was humiliated to the point of being fired by Roosevelt. Allen returned to Ohio, USA to practice and practice as a doctor. Shortly thereafter, he was injured in a car accident and his limb was amputated. So he made an obituary, but no one knew him. He worked all his life for the modernization of Korea and opened the way for Christianity to enter Korea, but when his merits shined in Korea, he passed away without anyone knowing.
There are 42 chapters in the book of Job, and there is only a small amount of information about him doing well at the end of the last chapter. There must be a deep meaning of the story in the midst of such a long story of suffering. I would like to share this meaning with you today.
In the Bible, when a piece of cloth is subtracted from a piece of cloth, it is impossible to know the cloth well by the length of the piece of yarn, so it is impossible to know the whole of the Bible with just one verse. As for cloth, it is like weaving cloth, so you have to see how it is framed. In the same way, it is not possible to know only one verse of the Bible. "Now ask the old generations. Consider the truths learned from the experiences of our ancestors." This means learning history. "We are just like newborns, knowing nothing, and our days on earth are but shadows." In other words, we do not know much because our lives are short, about 8 to 90 years, compared to tens of thousands of years of history, but when we look at history, there are lessons to be learned. It's a small event that later turns into a huge event.
The oldest book of the Bible was written 4,000 years ago, and the story of Jesus was written 2,000 years ago. How do you think that the Bible is infallible, not one jot or tittle? In the old days, writing was written on sheepskin, on bark, and on rocks. Although 2,000 or 4,000 years have passed, there is still nothing wrong with the writings of those long ago being copied over and over again. So, when you read the Bible, you have to read each letter carefully. A powerful truth comes out of each letter, letter by letter, stroke by stroke. You should read the Bible and pray every morning like this. I knew that people are as big as they prayed.
Where the Lord was invited to go before he died, a woman brought the best of her house. He took the perfume, poured it on Jesus' feet, and wiped it with his hair. At that time, the disciples said they would not help the poor by selling that expensive thing, but the Lord said that this woman had prepared for me to die. What is death? The cross of Jesus. It was a very small thing at the time, but it was to prepare the cross of Jesus, and that cross changed the whole world. The way for mankind to be saved from God has been opened.
The Lord spoke of the time of the Last Judgment. The Lord divided the crowd in two and said that one would be saved and the other would go to hell. Those who go to heaven do not know why. When they asked, the Lord said that I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was hungry and naked and you gave me food and clothing. They ask me when I did that. It is said that those who go to heaven when they are judged do not remember or remember why they were chosen. They can't remember when or where they did it, and they say they can't remember, but the other side, who is not saved at the Last Judgment, asks when did we not do that? Learn from history that it's a very small thing, but it's going to be a huge thing later on. You may not know anything because your life is short, but you should learn from your ancestors.
Once upon a time in France, a general wearing a red cloak was passing through a cold winter street, and a beggar was shivering from the cold. He cut his cloak in half and gave it to him. I had a dream that night, and the Lord came. He was wearing a cloak that he had cut in half, and he was also trembling. After waking up from the dream, he regretted not giving it all. We do not know when, but whether we go to heaven or hell depends here.
The Lord was on the road and was hungry, so he went to a fig tree far away to find fruit. There was no fruit there. So the Lord told him to wither to death. Then I saw something else and passed it again. Passing by, the tree had withered and died. Why did you dry up? Why didn't this tree bear fruit? Because the time has not yet come. The tree is supposed to bear fruit in October, but the Lord passed there in May. That is, the tree did not bear fruit. Nevertheless, he told the tree to wither and die. In Christianity, the saying that we are not ready or that it is inevitable does not apply. There is no need to say that the time has not yet come. He said that one day the Lord will come, and that day is a time that I do not know, but only God knows. That time is everything.