Category: Lamentations

The Hopeful Sons and Daughters that God Has Sought

Romans 16

23-24 Gaius welcomes me and the whole church into his home, and he sends his greetings.

Richard:  The home (husband, wife and children centered on God) is the center of the providence, not the church building.

Lamentations 2

The Lord was like an enemy!
    He left Israel in ruins
with its palaces
    and fortresses destroyed,
and with everyone in Judah
    moaning and weeping.
6 He shattered his temple
    like a hut in a garden;[d]
he completely wiped out
    his meeting place,
and did away with festivals
and Sabbaths
    in the city of Zion.
In his fierce anger he rejected
    our king and priests.

The Path of Life We Must Go, Entertaining Hope

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 22, 1959

Romans 8: 18-21

This world we live in is one in which sorrow and happiness are jumbled together. We know that all the happiness we enjoy will disappear with death and cannot remain beyond death.

If sorrow and happiness disappear with death, then would the mind of a person which seeks happiness, which wishes to have better things and longs for the eternal world, come to an end along with death? No, it would not. That our minds and hearts move in such a direction is proof that such a world really exists.

Because a person is a spiritual being, his life is eternal. The reason people rendered devoted service to Heaven, walked the path of death for the sake of Heaven, and even went the path that many others rejected, keeping hope in their bosom, was because they felt something other people could not feel. They knew of a value that common people could not know. That was why they could walk, even the path of death. Continue reading “The Hopeful Sons and Daughters that God Has Sought”

The Father Longs for the One Who Can Render Devoted Service to Him

Acts 3

14 You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, 15 and you killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done. 16 You see this man, and you know him. He put his faith in the name of Jesus and was made strong. Faith in Jesus made this man completely well while everyone was watching.

Richard:  Do not reject Jesus at His Second Coming.

Lamentations 1

Don’t let their evil deeds
    escape your sight.
Punish them as much
as you have punished me
    because of my sins.
I never stop groaning—
    I’ve lost all hope!

The Heart of Heaven in Relation to Elijah

Sun Myung Moon
March 15, 1959

1 Kings 19: 1-21

19 Ahab told his wife Jezebel what Elijah had done and that he had killed the prophets. 2 She sent a message to Elijah: “You killed my prophets. Now I’m going to kill you! I pray that the gods will punish me even more severely if I don’t do it by this time tomorrow.”

3 Elijah was afraid when he got her message, and he ran to the town of Beersheba in Judah. He left his servant there, 4 then walked another whole day into the desert. Finally, he came to a large bush and sat down in its shade. He begged the Lord, “I’ve had enough. Just let me die! I’m no better off than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down in the shade and fell asleep.

Suddenly an angel woke him up and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 Elijah looked around, and by his head was a jar of water and some baked bread. He sat up, ate and drank, then lay down and went back to sleep.

7 Soon the Lord’s angel woke him again and said, “Get up and eat, or else you’ll get too tired to travel.” 8 So Elijah sat up and ate and drank.

The food and water made him strong enough to walk forty more days. At last, he reached Mount Sinai,[a] the mountain of God, 9 and he spent the night there in a cave.

While Elijah was on Mount Sinai, the Lord asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”

10 He answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I’ve always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”

11 “Go out and stand on the mountain,” the Lord replied. “I want you to see me when I pass by.”

All at once, a strong wind shook the mountain and shattered the rocks. But the Lord was not in the wind. Next, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 Then there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

Finally, there was a gentle breeze,[b] 13 and when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his coat. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave.

The Lord[c] asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”

14 Elijah answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I’ve always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”

15 The Lord said:

Elijah, you can go back to the desert near Damascus. And when you get there, appoint[d] Hazael to be king of Syria. 16 Then appoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat[e] to take your place as my prophet.

17 Hazael will start killing the people who worship Baal. Jehu will kill those who escape from Hazael, and Elisha will kill those who escape from Jehu.

18 But seven thousand Israelites have refused to worship Baal, and they will live.

19 Elijah left and found Elisha plowing a field with a pair of oxen. There were eleven other men in front of him, and each one was also plowing with a pair of oxen. Elijah went over and put his own coat on Elisha.[f]

20 Elisha stopped plowing and ran after him. “Let me kiss my parents good-by, then I’ll go with you,” he said.

“You can go,” Elijah said. “But remember what I’ve done for you.”

21 Elisha left and took his oxen with him. He killed them and boiled them over a fire he had made with the wood from his plow. He gave the meat to the people who were with him, and they ate it. Then he left with Elijah and became his assistant.

Prayer

Upon this day You have given, we have gathered before Your dignified presence on our knees, concerned about our insufficiency. Please allow us to fathom our hearts now to see where they are. We are aware that Your course in pioneering the path of life was one of utmost austerity and consecration.

Father, please look with compassion at Your sons and daughters gathered here. I sincerely wish and desire that You will please manifest Your dignified presence. By our setting up the standard of victory You have granted, acknowledge us as the sacred throng, and come visit us.

The remaining course of the providence is one of sorrow. We are aware that the responsibility to hold this sorrow in check is upon our shoulders. We also know that he who cannot feel Heaven’s limitless sorrow will not be able to assume responsibility for it. Since we are aware that we cannot help assuming the responsibility for the sorrowful heart that remains in Heaven and for Heaven’s battles, please allow us to know how. Continue reading “The Father Longs for the One Who Can Render Devoted Service to Him”

Let Us Feel Father’s Heart as Our Own

1 Corinthians 2

16 The Scriptures ask,

“Has anyone ever known
the thoughts of the Lord
    or given him advice?”

But we understand what Christ is thinking.

Lamentations 2

Jerusalem Speaks:

20 Think about it, Lord!
Have you ever been this cruel
    to anyone before?
Is it right for mothers
    to eat their children,
or for priests and prophets
    to be killed in your temple?
21 My people, both young and old,
    lie dead in the streets.
Because you were angry,
my young men and women
    were brutally slaughtered.
22 When you were angry, Lord,
you invited my enemies
    like guests for a party.
No one survived that day;
enemies killed my children,
    my own little ones.

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

Prayer

Father, we are like orphans who do not know where we should go or in what circumstances we live, but who blindly follow the flow of history without securing the center of life. We have been pushed back and have survived with a pitiful existence until today.

We did not know that the Father was there, holding us and weeping when we were sad. We did not know that our Master has worked day and night to find us, we who were shackled to the realm of death. Please let us understand that it is more precious to come to know and experience these truths than to win both heaven and earth.

Let us understand that we have a Father who has labored for us and has been deeply concerned about our lives. Let us then serve the Father with all our minds and bodies with a sense of great awe. Let us understand the heart of the Father who took wounding blows in our place, who held us and embraced us when we fell down due to exhaustion, and who comforted us and showed us our path. Please allow us to reflect deeply upon our hypocritical lives in which we have not lived up to our words. Please allow us to become one with the heart of the Father and to become the sons and daughters who can fathom the situation of the Father. Please allow us to become inseparably united with the Father and to mourn over Heaven’s sorrow as our own and to rejoice in Heaven’s joy as our own. Please allow us to consider Heaven’s affairs our affairs and see Heaven’s responsibilities as our responsibilities. Father, please allow us to concretely feel that we must shoulder the responsibility to fight the myriad satans with an unchanging heart and become a sacrifice to save humanity. Continue reading “Let Us Feel Father’s Heart as Our Own”

Establish the Standard of Goodness and Seek Your World

Obadiah

8 Edom, when this happens,
I, the Lord,
will destroy
    all your marvelous wisdom.
9 Warriors from the city of Teman[c]
    will be terrified,
and you descendants of Esau[d]
    will be wiped out.

Lamentations

Get up and pray for help
    all through the night.
Pour out your feelings
    to the Lord,
as you would pour water
    out of a jug.
Beg him to save your people,
who are starving to death
    at every street crossing.

Richard:  Do we have the heart to save people?

Let Us Love Heaven and Become Patriots

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 1959

Matthew 5: 33-48

How low did people fall? They fell to the position completely opposite to God’s ideal of creation. Originally, human beings should have been able to consider this world their own. All of humanity should have lived as one tribe. They should have attended the Creator God as their God.

Have the people who live on earth today formed their own world? They have not. Is there someone or some nation who considers all humanity their clan? There is not. Moreover, is there a group of people who attend God as their God? There is not.

Therefore, we must first establish the standard of goodness and make our best efforts to seek our world, our clan and our God. We have to understand that this is the historical mission that fallen people must accomplish. Continue reading “Establish the Standard of Goodness and Seek Your World”

We need God’s Forgiveness

Leviticus 23

6 The Lord God said to Moses:

27 The tenth day of the seventh month[k] is the Great Day of Forgiveness.[l] It is a solemn day of worship; everyone must go without eating to show sorrow for their sins, and sacrifices must be burned. 28 No one is to work on that day—it is the Great Day of Forgiveness, when sacrifices will be offered to me, so that I will forgive your sins. 29 I will destroy anyone who refuses to go without eating. 30-31 None of my people are ever to do any work on that day—not now or in the future. And I will wipe out those who do! 32 This is a time of complete rest just like the Sabbath, and everyone must go without eating from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth.

Richard:  We all have sin and need to be forgiven.  Also, if we are going through hardships, it’s best to keep a positive attitude of gratitude.  We may be paying indemnity (restoring) ours and our ancestors past sins.

Lamentations 2

Zion, deep in your heart
    you cried out to the Lord.
Now let your tears overflow
    your walls day and night.
Don’t ever lose hope
    or let your tears stop.
19 Get up and pray for help
    all through the night.
Pour out your feelings
    to the Lord,
as you would pour water
    out of a jug.
Beg him to save your people,
who are starving to death
    at every street crossing.

Richard:  We (ourselves and our nation) are in dire straits.  Let us cry out to God for His guidance, mercy and forgiveness.

The Ideal Kingdom of Heaven, Our Hope

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 22, 1959

Matthew 3: 1-17

Prayer

When we experience Your heart, urging us on today, we cannot help realizing how weak are our bodies. When we realize, too, that the Shim Jung of Heaven is connected and flowing through us today, we feel deeply grateful. Father, please hold onto us. We want to go the way of the cross, with our minds and bodies becoming the offering, following Your request that we liberate Your hope, Your Shim Jung, and Your situation. Therefore, let us not weaken until the end. Make us go over the hill of death with a Shim Jung filled with a heavenly shock that penetrates the mind. Reinforce our exhaustion by allowing our connection with Heaven to be firm.

Allow us to come to the ideal garden for which we have longed. To do that, we have responsibility. Therefore, let us become countenances of joy offered to You as a gift, by fulfilling all the conditions for being a surviving fruit. Make us into Your original sons and daughters whom You want to love and who can receive Your love. Let us dwell in relationships of eternal love, the life of love, and the glory of love. Let us become people whom You cannot help loving and who cannot help receiving love from You. Please lead us this way. Continue reading “We need God’s Forgiveness”