Daily Inspiration: A Community for Daily Scripture Study

It Is For Thy Sake That I Have Borne Reproach

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1917

Why did the Second World War have to occur? It was to recover Jesus’ lost body on the worldwide level. The unified realm was lost because the returning Lord was driven away. That is why America now comes again through the Pacific civilization, seeking the Asian region that had lost Jesus’ body, as well as the unified world. The time is drawing near when America comes seeking Asia from the opposite direction. You should know that that is why the era of the Pacific civilization is coming. This is in accord with the fact that the world must be unified, centering on the ideal of the returning Lord, by recovering, in Asia, Jesus’ body that was lost in Asia. By going through this process, the era of the Pacific civilization is bound to come. It is to recover the body and make it whole. The Lord at his Second Advent already has the basis for receiving this, centering on the spirit and the flesh. That is why the cultural sphere can be connected internally and externally, based on a criterion of unity, where the object partner stands before the subject partner. Through this process, a unified world can be created, centering on the True Parents. (267-176, 1995.1.5)

Richard: It is significant that President Trump has lifted restrictions on contact with Taiwanese embassy officials by United States State Department officials. (Chinese state media blast Trump administration for ‘cowardly act of sabotage’ in Taiwan (nbcnews.com)) It is related to the fact that is mentioned above that Jesus’ body must be recovered in Asia. The three countries of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are related regarding this fact of recovering Jesus’ body.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1347

I blessed the 124 Couples representing the world’s 120 nations and the number four, on the global level, on the foundation of having established the center of tribes. What this means is that families have been formed that will represent the center of all Christianity that originated from Jesus’ 120 followers, who themselves symbolized the foundation of 120 nations. These therefore are couples whose responsibility it will be to achieve the four-position foundation on the individual level under my leadership, and bring together the ancestors, the races, and finally the world. As such, from now on, the way will be opened for all nations of the world to move toward one common destination. (75-150, 1975.1.2)

God’s Grief

3. Sharing God’s Tears

My grief is beyond healing,
my heart is sick within me.
Hark, the cry of the daughter of my people
from the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”
Why have they provoked me to anger with
their graven images, and with their foreign
idols?
“The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
For the wound of the daughter of my people is
my heart wounded,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my
people not been restored?
O that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people! 33
Jeremiah 8.18-9.1

Let not those who hope in thee be put to shame through me,
O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek thee be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.
For it is for thy sake that I have borne reproach,
that shame has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brethren,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
For zeal for thy house has consumed me,
and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.
Psalm 69.6-9

Do not pray for a thing that you lack, for your prayer will not be accepted. Rather when you wish to pray, pray for the heaviness that is in the Head of the world. For the want of the thing that you lack is [a want] in the indwelling Glory. For man is a part of God, and the want that is in the part is in the whole, and the whole suffers the same want as the part. Therefore let your prayer be directed to the want of the whole.
Pray continually for God’s glory that it may be redeemed from its exile.
Israel Baal Shem Tov34(Judaism)

God Was Stricken With Grief

Mark 5

²¹Once again Jesus got into the boat and crossed Lake Galilee. Then as he stood on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him. ²²The person in charge of the Jewish meeting place was also there. His name was Jairus, and when he saw Jesus, he went over to him. He knelt at Jesus’ feet ²³and started begging him for help. He said, “My daughter is about to die! Please come and touch her, so she will get well and live.” ²⁴Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed along and kept crowding around.

²⁵In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse.

²⁷The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes. ²⁸She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well.” ²⁹As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was well.

³⁰At that moment Jesus felt power go out from him. He turned to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹His disciples said to him, “Look at all these people crowding around you! How can you ask who touched you?” ³²But Jesus turned to see who had touched him.

³³The woman knew what had happened to her. She came shaking with fear and knelt down in front of Jesus. Then she told him the whole story.

³⁴Jesus said to the woman, “You are now well because of your faith. May God give you peace! You are healed, and you will no longer be in pain.”

³⁵While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from Jairus’ home and said, “Your daughter has died! Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, “Don’t worry. Just have faith!”

³⁷Jesus did not let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John. ³⁸They went home with Jairus and saw the people crying and making a lot of noise. ³⁹Then Jesus went inside and said to them, “Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child isn’t dead. She is just asleep.” ⁴⁰But the people laughed at him.

After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples and went to where she was. ^41-42He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, “Talitha, koum!” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got right up and started walking around.

Everyone was greatly surprised. ⁴³But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.”

Richard: God gives us hope in this reading. I see three main themes, faith, resurrection and secrecy. All can be applied to the current situation in the United States.

Obadiah 1

¹³They are my people,
    and you were cruel to them.
You went through their towns,
sneering
and stealing
    whatever was left.
¹⁴In their time of torment,
    you ambushed refugees
and handed them over
    to their attackers.
¹⁵The day is coming
when I, the Lord,
    will judge the nations.
And, Edom, you will pay in full
    for what you have done.

God’s Grief

2. God’s Painful Struggle to Save Humankind

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

It is natural that we want to protect our loved ones, even with our very life. Such is the original ideal of creation. The same is true for God, who loves His children. He became a sorrowful God who has had to invest His very life. (206:24, October 3, 1990)

I cannot count the days I spent in tears and lamentation after I came to know this world of God’s inner heart. Who could even dare to imagine that God was stricken with grief? He created the first human ancestors as His children and tried to raise them to be His eternal object partners in true love, yet they took the path of the Human Fall. Who could imagine God’s misery and humiliation, even as He walked His providence of salvation for tens of thousands of years? Anger exploded within Him over the injustice of it all. His heart sighed in lamentation. God should be the Father and King of glory, but the enemy Satan stole His throne and His position as Parent. Although God is clearly alive and carrying out His providence, people say, “God is dead,” and they mock and mistreat Him. Still, He perseveres on the path with patient endurance, waiting for the day when human beings will come to understand this truth.
Because God conducts His providence on a foundation of true love—which calls us to live for the sake of others—and on the basis of eternity, He does not just annihilate the universe and begin again after seeing His children descend into the bottomless pit of the Human Fall. With the power of His omniscience and omnipotence, He could have judged the world and Satan at once, smashing them to pieces. Though He has this power, He chose to absorb all the contempt and accusation into Himself. He voluntarily placed Himself in a prison-like environment, because He is our Father.
Ladies and gentlemen, have you spent even one day before our God, our Father, shedding tears of repentance because you empathize with Him? How can you stand before God and still close your eyes as if to block out how He bites His tongue and endures us human beings, who inherited the lineage of the Devil and became the tools of Satan? How can you be so insensitive to how God anxiously looks forward to the day of His liberation and release? (May 1, 2004)

When Jesus was on the cross, God had to turn away and allow His beloved Son to be killed. Who knew the wretchedness in God’s mind and heart at that moment? The Bible does not explain it, but wasn’t there some reason why God could not intervene to prevent His Son’s death?…
Likewise, we think that God should have stood on the side of His chosen ones. Seeing them suffer persecution wherever they went—beaten, decapitated, and burned in pitch—we might ask, “Why was God not able to prevent this?”32 Instead, you should think how grievous and distressed God was that He could not exercise His almighty power to save them. How can we still say that He is the Most High God? (64:222, November 12, 1972)

What kind of God is our Father? He has walked the most tragic path through the course of history. He has suffered tragedies more horrible than any human tragedy.
When God saw His children languishing in sorrow and suffering and despair, He did not say, “You deserve it.” Our Father worked to save His children pierced with sorrow by placing Himself in greater sorrow; He worked to save His children moaning in pain by going to a place of even greater pain. He did not hesitate even to go to His death to save His children who were on the verge of death.
Once we understand this, how should we live? If we see a pitiful old person on the street, bent over with age, we should think, “That is what my Father must look like as He seeks after me.”
When we see a laborer’s swollen hands, we should think, “My Father’s hands are even more torn up and swollen than his.” When we see a pitiful beggar, we should think, “This beggar is not a beggar; instead he is my Father,” and humbly bow our heads. God’s heart is embedded even in lives that appear insignificant and wretched. We should shed tears with the understanding that each of these people is our Father, and then we should cast aside our dignity and help them. This is the only way we will come to know God. (8:345-46, February 28, 1960)

Killing the Prophets and Stoning Those Who Are Sent to You

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 2233

God is the great King of truth, goodness, trueness, and love. (301-38, 1999.4.16)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1526

Pledge number two of the Family Pledge also contains the phrase, “Our family… by centering on true love.” This signifies that nothing can be accomplished without true love. The next phrase is, “Our family… pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family.” This means that the father needs to practice the way of filial piety, as do the children. In fact, every member of the family needs to do the same. They need to inherit the tradition of filial piety. Pledge number two goes on to say, “We pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of … patriots in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth.”

God’s Grief

2. God’s Painful Struggle to Save Humankind

When man is sore troubled, the Shekhinah says, “How heavy is My head, how heavy is My arm.” If God suffers so for the blood of the wicked, how much more for the blood of the righteous.

Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6.5 (Judaism)

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

Matthew 23.37

“In all their afflictions He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63.9). So God said to Moses, “Do you not notice that I dwell in distress when the Israelites dwell in distress? Know from the place whence I speak with you, from the midst of thorns [the Burning Bush], it is as if I stand in their distresses.”

Exodus Rabbah (Judaism)

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called My son.
The more I called them,
the more they went from Me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and burning incense to idols.
Yet it was I that taught Ephraim to walk,
I took him up in My arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of compassion,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one
who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.
Hosea 11.1-4

The Enlightened One, because He saw man-kind drowning in the great sea of birth, death and sorrow, and longed to save them, for this was moved to pity.

Because He saw the men of the world straying in false paths, and none to guide them, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw that they lay wallowing in the mire of the Five Lusts, in dissolute abandonment, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw them still fettered to their wealth, their wives and their children, knowing not how to cast them aside, for this He was
moved to pity.

Because He saw them doing evil with hand, heart, and tongue, and many times receiving the bitter fruits of sin, yet ever yielding to their desires, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw that they slaked the thirst of the Five Lusts as it were with brackish water, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw that though they longed for happiness, they made for themselves no karma of happiness; and though they hated pain, yet willingly made for themselves a karma of pain; and though they coveted the joys of heaven, would not follow His commandments on earth, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw them afraid of birth, old age, and death, yet still pursuing the works that lead to birth, old age, and death, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw them consumed by the fires of pain and sorrow, yet knowing not where to seek the still waters of samadhi, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw them living in an evil time, subjected to tyrannous kings and suffering many ills, yet heedlessly following after pleasure, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw them living in a time of wars, killing and wounding one another; and knew that for the riotous hatred that had flourished in their hearts they were doomed to pay an endless retribution, for this He was moved to pity.

Because many born at the time of His incarnation had heard Him preach the Holy Law, yet could not receive it, for this He was moved to pity.

Because some had great riches that they could not bear to give away, for this He was moved to pity.

Because He saw the men of the world plowing their fields, sowing the seed, trafficking, huckstering, buying, and selling; and at the end winning nothing but bitterness, for this He was moved to pity.

Upasaka Sila Sutra(Buddhism)

It Breaks God’s Heart to Observe Human Misery

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#87-They Knowingly Abetted Treason and a Coup
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Numbers 9

⁹The Lord then told Moses ¹⁰to say to the community of Israel:

If any of you or your descendants touch a dead body and become unfit to worship me, or if you are away on a long journey, you may still celebrate Passover. ¹¹But it must be done in the second month, in the evening of the fourteenth day. Eat the Passover lamb with thin bread and bitter herbs, ¹²and don’t leave any of it until morning or break any of the animal’s bones. Be sure to follow these regulations.

¹³But if any of you refuse to celebrate Passover when you are not away on a journey, you will no longer belong to my people. You will be punished because you did not offer sacrifices to me at the proper time.

Richard: God gives his Word, and we must follow it. God speaks through our conscience informed by God’s Word.

2 Samuel 21

^13-14David had their bones taken to the land of Benjamin and buried in a side room in Saul’s family burial place. Then he gave orders for the bones of the men who had been hanged to be buried there. It was done, and God answered prayers to bless the land.

¹⁴Anyone, including foreigners who live among you, can celebrate Passover, if they follow all the regulations.

Richard: Those responsible for crimes were brought to justice, and then God could bless the land.

God’s Grief

1. God’s Grief over the Human Fall and Humankind’s Sinful Condition

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

God’s heart was torn asunder and broken with indescribable grief and tears the moment Adam and Eve fell. (7:292, October 11, 1959)

Love is endless. Had God not established the principle of love, He would be alone. Dwelling by Himself, He would be unable to experience joy, anger, sorrow or happiness.
Although God’s love is absolute, once God lost His partners of love, He unexpectedly found Himself in an absolutely miserable and grim situation, such as no one in history has ever experienced. No one can comfort Him over this, ever. (204:101, July 1, 1990)

If Adam and Eve had not fallen, God their Creator would have been their eternal Lord. But due to the Fall, Satan became their lord. The Fall made this outcome unavoidable. Suppose a girl of noble birth, raised within the walls of her house, is raped by a gangster; to whom does she belong? She belongs to him. The same principle applies.
Adam was to have been the king of heaven and Eve his queen. To restore these original positions requires following the principle of creation. From the beginning of creation God laid down the law of eternal love to be fulfilled by Adam and Eve, so it has to be observed. Were God to disregard this law, it would be tantamount to destroying the law of Heaven.
God set up this heavenly law. If He were to negate it, that would be tantamount to negating humankind and to negating Himself as the absolute Creator. That is why God had no alternative but to bring order through a course of re-creation. Who has known its long and painful history? (207:272, November 11, 1990)

How grieved was God that His enemy deprived Him of His throne! Unable to become the glorious God, He became the long-suffering and sorrowful God. Although He is rightfully the King of His kingdom and the King of the universe, God has been mistreated as if He were dead. His enemy robbed Him of His ideal and violated His beloved children. The planet Earth has fully become His enemy’s plaything. (105:199, October 21, 1979)

Why is God’s heart full of grief? It is because of Satan. It is because human beings planted Satan’s blood and flesh through partaking of his false love. It is because they sowed the Devil’s seeds, which propagated as the Devil’s families. God wished to rejoice, singing, “May my families live with true love for ten thousand years under Heaven’s dominion!” However, with the appearance of the Devil’s fami-lies multiplying throughout the world, God’s dreams were shattered. (214:282, February 3, 1991)

Can you imagine how much it breaks God’s heart to observe human misery every hour of every day? What happened to God’s dignity when His sons and daughters, whom He intended to glorify as princes and princesses, became cripples, fell into a pit filled with dung and were stuck upside-down in hell? What became of the dignity of the omniscient and omnipotent God, of the absolute God? Can He show His face? (218:240, August 19, 1991)

As long as human beings live in despair, God also lives in despair. As long as Satan shackles human beings on earth, the world of darkness under his dominion will remain also in the spirit world. (2:246, June 9, 1957)

The Lord Saw that the Wickedness of Man Was Great in the Earth

The Richard Urban Show:

#86-Joe Biden’s Lovers Will Be Revealed
#85-Don’t Change What God Has Said
#84-President Trump Should Stay in Office

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2100

Those of you who have read the entire collection of my sermons, raise your hands. You dreadful bunch of people! How did you educate them, nation-al leader? I could not even say the deeper contents in those sermons. I cannot express them now, either. You must know how precious these words are and that the source of life is contained within them. It is not a source of spring water. It is not just any kind of water. And it is not river water. You should know that this source of life is flowing away. It is the Unificationists’ responsibility to find a way to have this eternal water of life by groping for a way to connect the water pipes to this source. But what have you done? Are all of those books something that you can just sell to an antique book shop? (181-268, 1988.10.3)

Richard: Rev. Moon speaks strongly here on the value of the Completed Testament scriptures that he has revealed. Yet many Unification Church members are OK that Mrs. Moon has adulterated the Holy Scriptures by rewriting and changing them and creating her own new theology. On the other hand, Hyung Jin Moon does not preach on the Holy Scriptures either, and has introduced the concept of the mostly Old Testament based Rod Of Iron Ministry.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1087

When you visit a place, do you sprinkle holy salt before you sit down? If not, you should establish a condition in which you inwardly blow three times, “whew, whew, whew” before taking your seat. When you see a handsome man in the satanic world, rather than thinking, “I would like to live with this man,” you should be able to blow him away from you, even if he holds your hand. You should sprinkle holy salt, that is, inwardly blow three times, “whew, whew, whew.” You should sprinkle holy salt three times. (170-233, 1987.11.21)

Richard: We should live a sanctified life.

God’s Grief

If God is our Divine Parent and we human beings are his children, then surely God must feel great sadness of heart over his children’s bondage, degradation and rebellion. thus, religious traditions that revere a personal, compassionate God recognize God to have an aspect of sorrow. in Christianity, Jesus’ passion has regularly represented the suffering of God, as the Father is one with his son. although the biblical witness to God’s grief is sometimes eclipsed by the Aristotelian conception that perfection requires that God be impassible, contemporary theologians are affirming that the creator also suffers. in Mahayana Buddhism, the compassion of Shakyamuni and the commiseration of the bodhisattvas for human suffering stems from the heart of the cosmic buddha who is the Father of all humanity.
For Father Moon, to know God means to experience God’s painful and grieving heart: broken at the Fall, sorrowful that his children continue to live in darkness, tortured by the power and arrogance of evil that holds his children in thrall, and agonized at the thorny path that his saints must walk as they strive to fulfill the providence and attain liberation. by attaining such knowledge, we can become compassionate ourselves, and persevering in the struggle to liberate humanity.

1. God’s Grief over the Human Fall and Humankind’s Sinful Condition

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.27

Genesis 6.5-6

And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of His people, and He wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying, “How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?” And Enoch said unto the Lord, How is it that you can weep, seeing you are holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?”…

The Lord said unto Enoch, “Behold these your brethren; they are the workmanship of My own hands, and I gave to them their knowledge… and commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose Me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood; and the fire of My indignation is kindled against them; and in My hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them… misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of My hands; therefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?”

Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7.28-37 (Latter-Day Saints)

Abu Dharr reported God’s Messenger as saying, “I see what you do not see and I hear what you do not hear; heaven has groaned, and it has a right to groan.”

Hadith of Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah (Islam)

Whatever kind of regret I, Tsukihi [God], may have borne, until now I have overlooked it and kept still patiently…

Never think of this regret as slight! It is the result of the regret that has been accumulated and piled up.

All people of the whole world are My children. Although I single-heartedly love them, unaware of this, each and every one of them equally is thinking only of dust.

Think of the regret of God over these dusty minds! It is far beyond expression of My words.

Ofudesaki 17.64-70 (Tenrikyo)

Abuk, mother of Deng,
Leave your home in the sky and come to work in our homes,
Make our country to become clean like theoriginal home of Deng,
Come make our country as one: the country of Akwol
Is not as one, either by night or by day,
The child called Deng, his face has become sad,
The children of Akwol have bewildered their Chief’s mind. 30
Dinka Song (African Traditional Religions)