Today’s Gospel

The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. - Proverbs 9:10

Reflection

When you encounter difficulties in life and don’t know how to deal with them, when you want to get some good ideas at work but fail, when you encounter difficulties in your studies and do not know how to solve them, when you encounter problems in faith and don’t understand God’s will, do you know what is the smartest way to take?

God says, “The greatest wisdom is to look to God and rely on God in all things. This is something that most people haven’t grasped. What do they believe instead? ‘I study more, listen more and read a lot of God’s words, and I attend many meetings, learn many skills and many songs. Then I pray even more, fellowship with brothers and sisters even more, do my duties more, suffer more, pay a greater price, abandon even more things, and this is perhaps the greatest wisdom.’ But you have overlooked the final aim of doing all this. Regardless of how much truth one understands, how many duties one has fulfilled, how much one has experienced while fulfilling those duties, how great or small one’s stature is, or what sort of environment one is in, what one cannot do without is that one must look up to God and rely on Him in everything one does. This is the greatest sort of wisdom. Why do I say this is the greatest wisdom? Even if one has come to understand some truths, will it do if one does not rely on God? Some people, after having believed in God a little longer, have come to understand some truths and undergone a few trials. They might have gained a bit of practical experience, but they do not know to rely on God, nor do they understand how to look up to and rely on Him. Do such people possess wisdom? They are the most foolish of people, and are the sort who think themselves clever; they do not fear God and shun evil. Some people say, ‘I understand many truths and possess the reality of the truth. It’s okay just to do things in a principled manner. I am loyal to God, and I know how to get close to Him. Isn’t it enough that I rely on the truth?’ Relying on the truth works fine, doctrinally speaking. However, there are many times and situations wherein people do not know what the truth is or what the principles of the truth are. All those with practical experience know this. For example, when you encounter some issue, you might not know how the truth relevant to this issue should be practiced or applied. What should you do at times like these? No matter how much practical experience you have, you cannot be in possession of the truth in all situations. No matter how many years you have believed in God, how many things you have experienced, and how much pruning, dealing, or disciplining you have experienced, are you the source of the truth? Some people say, ‘I know by heart all those well-known utterances and passages in the book, The Word Appears in the Flesh; I don’t need to rely on God or look up to Him. When the time comes, I’ll do just fine by relying on these words of God.’ The things you have memorized are static, yet the environments you encounter—as well as your states—are dynamic. You are able to spout words and phrases of doctrine, but can do nothing with them when something happens to you, which proves that you do not understand the truth. No matter how good you are at repeating words of doctrines, this does not mean that you are able to understand God’s will in everything that happens. Thus, there is a very important lesson to be learned here: It is that people need to look up to God in all things, and that by doing so, they can achieve a reliance on God. Only by relying on God will they have a path to follow. Otherwise, you can do something correctly and in conformity with the principles of the truth, but if you do not rely on God, then your actions are but deeds of man, and they will not necessarily satisfy God. Because people have such a shallow understanding of the truth, they are likely to follow rules and cling obstinately to letters and doctrines by using that same truth when facing various situations. It is possible that they may complete many matters in general conformity with the principles of the truth, but God’s guidance cannot be seen in this, nor can the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a serious problem here, which is that people do many things in dependence on their experience and the rules they have understood, and on certain human imaginings. It is hard to achieve true prayer to God, and to look to God in all that they do; and it is hard to achieve the effect of acting as guided by God, and according to the principles of the truth, after understanding God’s will. For this reason, I say that the greatest wisdom is to look up to God and rely on Him in all things.”

From God’s words, we can see that the greatest wisdom is to rely on God! We should put God first, rely on Him with our hearts, work hard to cooperate, and handle the problems with the wisdom given by God. Only by doing so can we gain God’s guidance and blessings.

Friends, at this point, do you now understand the importance of relying on God? When we truly draw near to God and rely on Him, God will give us wisdom so that we will have a way to follow in anything we encounter. If you want to learn more about looking to God and relying on Him, please click the link to participate in the study online.