Whenever we face a problem, we tend to seek help from someone who seems to be able to solve the problem and depend on him or her. Things on earth are a shadow of the things in heaven which is the reality (Heb 8:5). Nevertheless, we often try to follow the shadow when we do something.

It is no use following the shadow. We must follow the reality. It is God who leads and accomplishes the gospel work. Everything on earth can be done or achieved when God approves of it in heaven.

No one can do God’s work or stop it with his or her wisdom, ability or power. So, I would like to ask you to look to God alone and live according to the teachings of the Bible, as it is written by the author of Psalms: “Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 2:1–6; 121:1–2; 146:3–5).

Remember God

Recently, many media outlets have been reporting about the Church of God. In Korea, the monthly magazines, published by several major news outlets, have reported that the Church of God is a good church, recognizing the truthfulness of the Church of God that believes in God the Mother and serves as the salt and light of the world according to the teachings of Mother. So, many people are showing interest in our church and admiring us. As the light shines brighter and brighter, however, Satan is enraged and trying to defame the Church of God with all kinds of lies, because the darkness hates the light.

Despite all that, the number of our registered members is over two million now. Whereas the number of Christians in the world has been decreasing recently, hundreds of thousands of people receive the truth in the Church of God every year; it is probably a very rare occurrence in Korea and all other countries in the world. Of course, I do not mean that the church which has a large number of members is a good church. I just mention the number of our members to let you know that so many people know and understand the Church of God properly and come to our church from all over the world, seeing the glory of father and Mother. It is good to think that the Church of God is a good church because it follows God’s word. However, you should not judge the church by its outward appearance or size.

Some churches boast about their celebrity members and put up placards telling people to come to their gatherings. It is wrong to go to church to see certain people or to follow them. The church is a place to worship God, not man. The Church of God never boasts about anyone except God, whether he is a pastor or a celebrity. It is because our church is the church that only reveres and worships God.

Aren’t all people living on this earth the angels who have been expelled from heaven as a result of sin? We can attain salvation when we only look to God and follow Him. We must not commit the foolish act of forgetting God.

1 Co 4:7 for who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Everything we have, including our talents, comes from God. So the Bible tells us not to boast about anything as if it is our own. Sometimes, however, we think that what we have is our own and forget God. This is why God worries about our spiritual safety.

Dt 8:11–18 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day . . . All you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth . . .

God leads us all the way so that we can be blessed in the end. Let us only think of God. Only God is the solution to all the problems we have; God is the only one who can solve all the complicated problems.

When something goes well, we may mistakenly think, ‘I’ve done it with my own ability.’ It is not because we have many abilities that God has chosen us. All the abilities we have come from God. So, we must not boast of our abilities as if they are our own. Since God has given us all things that belong to Him and has chosen us to be used for His work, shouldn’t we give thanks to God all the time and lower ourselves with a humble mind?

Looking only to God with true faith

When God came to this earth in the name of Jesus 2,000 years ago, He was not in the position of being worshiped by people but took the lowly position of being a servant. If He had come with His glorious appearance so that He could gain fame and popularity in the world, everyone would have believed in Him. However, He had no beauty or majesty to attract people to him, nothing in his appearance or family background or property that they should desire him. So, they did not receive Christ properly (Isa 53:1–2).

In the Bible, the Jews said, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?” (Jn 7:15). They also slandered Jesus, saying, “You, a mere man, claim to be God” (Jn 10:33). They even denounced Him as a heretic, without hesitation.

Ac 24:1–5 five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “ . . . We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.”

God Himself came to this earth. How could they dare call Him a “Nazarene,” which was a title of disgrace? As they called Jesus a heretic, some people turned away from the truth and deserted Jesus. On the other hand, there were a small number of people who followed Jesus to the end, being ready for martyrdom, even though they heard people call Jesus a Nazarene. To those who willingly participated in the sufferings of Christ, He gave this promise: “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial . . .” (Rev 3:10).

As Jesus promised, those who kept the faith to the end are now being comforted before the throne of God. This is true faith. If Jesus had earned more fame and popularity than King Herod or the Roman emperor and had reigned over all people, it would have been difficult to separate the true people of heaven. However, Jesus carried out the gospel work in the lowliest and humblest position, even being called a Nazarene; and He selected only those who truly recognized Him and followed Him.

The work accomplished by God

We, too, should look only to God and proceed towards salvation, following the teachings of the Bible. We must not have weak faith that wavers by the reproaches and insults of people.

Ps 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Great people are those whom God is always with, whether they build a house or watch over a city or whatever they do. Just as the saints of the early Church only followed God and held fast to the truth, even though they did not get people’s attention and were even called the “Nazarenes,” we believe in Elohim today, whom the Bible testifies about. So, like them, we too should make every effort to testify about our God with boldness.

God the father and God the Mother have always been with us until the gospel has been preached to the whole world and we have become the people we are today. If God helps us, we can overcome any barrier, no matter how high it is. We can confirm this again through the history of Israel.

Ex 14:15–16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

As soon as the Israelites came out of Egypt, they faced a great barrier; Pharaoh king of Egypt and his army were pursuing them from behind, and there was the Red Sea in front of them. If they had tried to bring people across the sea by boat, would the pursuing Egyptian army just wait until they all crossed the sea? They were indeed caught up in such a desperate situation—a great dilemma.

If they fell into the hands of their enemies, they would suffer much harsher treatment than before. At this critical moment, Moses cried out to God. Then God Gave Moses the solution, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water.”

As Moses carried out the solution that God had given him, miraculous things occurred; the waters were divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, and the Egyptian army that followed the Israelites into the sea was buried under water. God was the solution.

Victory led by God

Moses looked to God whenever he faced a problem. “God, I am facing a problem. What should I do?” “do this.” “The Red Sea is blocking our way. What do I have to do?” “Stretch out your hand over the sea.” “I have another problem. What should I do?” “Strike the rock.” God always gave him the solutions to the problems.

We, too, should always look to God and ask Him for the solution to any of our problems. Additionally, we need to have an attitude of faith that enables us to always give glory to God, keeping in mind that everything we have comes from God.

Ex 17:10–13 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

When Israel fought against Amalek, God let Israel win as Moses held up his hands. Of course, Joshua was on the front lines, but no matter how resourceful and brave he was, Israel could not win when Moses lowered his hands. As Moses held up his hands, however, even a very strong man could not stand up against Joshua.

If you want to solve a difficult situation that you encounter, think of God. You may think that if you gather wise and intelligent advisors like Zhuge Kong Ming (one of the greatest Chinese strategists during the Three Kingdoms era) together, they will be able to solve any of your problems. That’s not it. It was not with Moses’ own wisdom that he solved the problems. The wisest person is the one who understands God’s providence that is working in the invisible world and thinks of God.

Jos 10:12–14 on the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “o sun, stand still over Gibeon, o moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

In the battle between Israel and the Amorites, all the geographic features of the battle area were familiar to the Amorites—the local people, but they were absolutely unfamiliar to the Israelites, when it became dark and the night came. So, Joshua asked God to stop the sun and the moon. At that moment, the sun stood still and the moon stopped. The planets cannot stop moving in the orbit even for a second; they keep moving under their mutual gravitational attraction. However, it all stopped working for almost a whole day at that time.

Was it something that Joshua could do? It was God who did it all. God is the solution. Instead of looking to a visible man, let us look to God who is with him and always revere God with faith.

God is the only solution

When we look at the historical event of the exodus, we see that the emancipation of the Israelites from Egypt, where they had served as slaves for 400 years, was not something that could be achieved by human power. Although there were about six hundred thousand men, it was not by their ability or power that they were freed from slavery in Egypt. That was not by Moses’ power, either.

God continuously sent the ten plagues upon Egypt. He proclaimed the Passover as the day when He would kill every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal, and the day when the plagues would pass over the Israelites. On the Passover night, all the firstborn in Egypt were killed. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Take your people and get out of Egypt. We can’t stand any more plagues from your God.” He sent out the Israelites, giving them gold and silver jewelry from the Egyptians, so that they would not go empty-handed. All this was the work of God, and God was the solution.

Let us never forget God who is always with us and leads us to salvation. Even though there are tens of thousands of obstacles and temptations on our journey to heaven, God helps us overcome them; it is only God who can help us overcome all those obstacles and temptations.

When you are in trouble and distress, when your faith goes in a slump, think of God and ask God for a solution. God is the one who gives us a solution to every problem, and God is the key to open every door. Is there anything we have not received from God? I am sure that if we always look to God and seek God’s will, we will have great faith like Joshua, Moses, Apostles Paul and Peter.

Even in the critical situation where the Israelites had the Egyptian army behind them and the Red Sea in front of them, the problem was solved when they thought of God. Although there is a disaster where a thousand may fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, we can find the solution if we look to God. God has promised us that through the Passover of the new covenant He will let disasters pass over us and will rescue us from the waters and the fire. God is the only answer and solution to our problems. Brothers and sisters in Zion! Thinking of God and engraving God’s gracious promise deep in our hearts, let us revere God and give glory and praise to Him.