I

Because people do not recognize

God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty,

they always face fate defiantly and with a rebellious attitude,

and they always want to cast off

God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in store,

hoping in vain to change their current circumstances

and alter their fate.

But they can never succeed and are thwarted at every turn.

This struggle, which takes place deep in one’s soul,

brings profound pain of the sort that carves itself into one’s bones,

as one fritters away their life all the while.

II

What is the cause of this pain?

It is caused by the paths people take,

the ways they choose to live their lives.

Some people may not have realized these things.

But when you truly know, when you truly come to recognize

that God has sovereignty over human fate,

when you truly understand

that everything God has planned for you and decided for you

is a great benefit and protection,

then you feel your pain begin to lighten,

and your whole being becomes relaxed, free, liberated,

becomes relaxed, free, liberated.

III

Man’s tragedy is not that he seeks a happy life,

not that he pursues fame and fortune

or struggles against his own fate through the fog,

but that after he has seen the Creator’s existence,

after he has learned the fact that

the Creator has sovereignty over human fate,

he still cannot mend his ways, cannot pull his feet out of the mire,

but hardens his heart and persists in his errors.

He would rather keep thrashing in the mud,

vying obstinately against the Creator’s sovereignty,

resisting it until the bitter end,

all without the slightest shred of contrition.

It is only when he lies broken and bleeding

that he at last decides to give up and turn back.

This is true human sorrow.

So God says, those who choose to submit are wise,

and those who choose to struggle and flee

are foolish indeed, are foolish indeed.

from The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique III