Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2023

He feels safe

 One who trusts in GD is beloved to all classes of people. They feel favorably toward him because they are sure that he will not do them harm.  They are confident that he will not get angry with them, and they harbor no fear of him in respect to their wives or their money.  He, in turn, feels safe with them because he knows that help and harm are not in the hands of any created thing or within its power; he, therefore, does not fear harm from them just as he does not expect help from them,  And since he feels secure with them and they feel secure with him, he loves them, and they love him.   pg 453

Worldly means

One who trusts in GD occupies himself with worldly means in order to provide for his latter end his final destination.  Only when he is sure that a certain occupation is safe for his religious and secular interest will he engage in it.   He will not take up a profession that might in any way damage his religious life or lead to disobedience of the Creator so as not to bring upon himself sickness instead of health.  But one who does not trust in GD relies on the means and puts his confidence in them. He cannot refrain from any of them and will engage in those that are admirable as well as those that are reprehensible giving no thought to his final condition.  

One who trusts in GD

 One who trusts in GD, if he has anything beyond what he needs for his maintenance, spends it on what pleases the Creator with a generous soul and a cheerful heart.  But to one who does not trust in GD, the world and all that is in it does not seem sufficient to provide for him and satisfy his needs.  He is more careful in saving his money than in fulfilling his duties to the Creator and to his fellowmen.  Before he knows it, he loses his money and is left destitute.  pg 451

If they benefit him

 One who does not trust in GD employs means to a livelihood because he relies on them, trusting that they will yield him a profit and secure him against loss.  If they benefit him, he speaks highly of them, applauds his own diligence in using them, grows fond of them, and will not try anything else.  But if they do not benefit him, he abandons them, condemns them, and loses interest in them.  pg 451

Who turst in GD

 Even if one who trusts in GD employs the means to a livelihood, he does not in his heart rely on those means, nor does he expect that profit or loss will accrue to him unless that is GD's Will! He employs them rather in order to serve the Creator, Who commanded us to be involved in the world so as to upbuild it and adorn it.  If these means yield him a profit or help him to avoid a loss, he thanks GD alone for this.  He does not, on account of this love these means more become more attached to them or grow more reliant upon them.  Rather his trust in GD grows stronger and he relies upon Him rather than upon the means.  And if these means prove to be of no use to him, he realizes that his livelihood will come to him when GD wills it from whatever source He wishes.  He does not, as a result, spurn that means and does not cease to pursue them in the service of the Creator. pg 451

Rely on Him not the means

 Even if one who trusts in GD employs the means to a livelihood, he does not in his heart rely on those means, nor does he expect that profit or loss will accrue to him unless that is GD's Will.  He employs them rather in order to serve the Creator, Who commanded us to be involved in the world so as to upbuild it and adorn it.  If these means yield him a profit or help him to avoid a loss, he thanks GD alone for this   He does not, on account of this love these means more become more attached to them or grow more reliant upon them   Rather, his trust in GD grows stronger and he relies upon Him rather than upon the means.

One who trusts in GD

 One who trusts in GD, his soul is at rest, and his heart is at ease in the face of decrees because he knows that the Creator will direct them for his good in this world and hereafter.   But one who does not trust in GD is in a state of constant distress, protracted anxiety and sorrow, and sadness that never leaves him, whether in good times or bad. In good times because of his discontent with his situation and his desire to add to increase and to amass in bad times, because of his disgust with his situation and because adversity conflicts with his desire nature and personality. pg 449

One who trust in GD

 As to the difference between one who relies on GD and one who does not with respect to the way they employ the means to a livelihood, I say that one who trusts in GD is distinguished from one who does not rely on Him in seven ways.  1. One who trusts in GD accepts His judgment under all conditions and thanks Him for good as well as for bad.  But one who does not trust in GD congratulates himself for the good and becomes angry at GD for the bad pg 449 

One who trusts in GD is distinguished from one who does not

 As to the difference between one who relies on GD and one who does not with respect to the way they employ the means to a livelihood, I say that one who trusts in GD is distinguished from one who does not rely on HIm in several ways.  One of those ways is one who trusts in GD accepts His judgment under all conditions and thanks Him for good as well as for bad. But one who does not trust in GD congratulates himself for the good and becomes angry at GD for the bad pg 447/449