Слово 67. О видах надежды на Бога, о том, кому должно надеяться на Бога и кто надеется безрассудно и неразумно

There is hope in God with heartfelt faith; and it is beautiful, connected with prudence and knowledge; and there is another hope, different from that one, a consequence of lawlessness, and it is false. A person who has no concern at all about perishable things, but wholly, day and night, entrusts himself to the Lord, does not care about anything worldly, due to his great zeal for virtues, uses all his time for the pursuit of the Divine and therefore neglects preparing food and clothing for himself, preparing a place to live for the body and everything else - such a person has excellent and reasonable hope in the Lord, because the Lord will prepare for him what is necessary. And this is the truly true and wisest hope. And it is right for such a person to hope in God, because he has become His servant and is diligent in His work, and does not indulge in negligence, for any reason. Such a one is worthy for God to show His care in a special way; because he kept the commandment of God, which says: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33); and: “Do not please the flesh through lust” (Rom. 13:14). For, with such our dispensation 545, the world, like some slave, will prepare everything for us, without a doubt it will obey us as rulers, and will not resist our words and our will. Such a person, in order not to interrupt his unceasing presence with God, does not indulge in worries about the necessary needs of the body and, out of the fear of God, does not care about anything else, except for this one thing, so that he can be free from all such concerns, small and great, aimed at pleasure and soaring 546 of the mind; and yet miraculously receives it without caring or working about it. But a person whose heart is completely buried in earthly things, who always eats dust with the serpent, never cares about what is pleasing to God, but is tired and weakened by everything bodily, does not commit a single virtue, due to constant relations with people and distraction in pleasures, and presents any excuses for this 547 - such a person, indeed, due to this laziness and idleness, has fallen away from good things. And when he is hampered by poverty in something or by death and depressed by the fruits of his iniquities, then he, perhaps, will say: “I will put my trust in God, and he will make me careless, and give me relief.” Until this hour, you, fool, did not remember God, but offended Him with the lewdness of your deeds, and the name of God for your sake, as it is written, was blasphemed by the pagans (see Rom. 2:24); and now do you dare to say with open lips: “I will place my trust in Him, He will help me and take care of me!” To the shame of such, God spoke well through the prophet: “They seek Me day by day and desire to understand My ways, as men who have done righteousness and have not forsaken the judgment of their God ask... My judgment is righteous” (Isaiah 58:2). Among these is this madman, who did not even approach God with his thoughts, but when he was soon surrounded by sorrows, he raised his hands to Him with hope. Such a person would have to be burned on fire many times in order to enlighten him in every possible way; because he did not do anything that would make him worthy to have trust in God. On the contrary, for his cruel deeds and for his negligence about his due, he is worthy of punishment; and God, being long-suffering, by His mercy alone endures him. Therefore, let him not deceive himself, let him not forget what his life is like, and let him not say that he hopes in God, for he will be punished, because he does not have a single act of faith. Let him not direct his steps into idleness and let him not say: “I believe that God will give me what I need,” as one who spends his life in the works of God, or let him not recklessly plunge into the well, never having God in his thoughts. Otherwise, after falling away 548, he will say: “I will put my trust in God, He will deliver me.” Don't flatter yourself, crazy one; Hope in God is preceded by work for God and sweat shed in doing it. If you believe in God, then you do well. But this faith also requires works, and hope in God comes from suffering for virtue. Do you believe that God provides for His creatures and is omnipotent? May your faith be accompanied by appropriate action, and then God will hear you. Do not try to hold back the wind with your handful, that is, faith without works. Often someone, without knowing, walks a path where there is a fierce beast, or murderers, or something similar, and the general providence of God is that he saves him from such harm: either, until the fierce beast passes, he somehow slows down the traveler’s procession, or someone meets him and forces him to deviate from the path. And yet, sometimes a fierce serpent lies on the way - and is invisible; but God, not wanting to give a person over to such a temptation, makes the serpent suddenly begin to hiss and move from its place or crawl in front of the traveler, and he, seeing this, isware and is saved from the serpent. Although this person is unworthy due to secret sins known to him alone, yet God takes him away from trouble, by His mercy. And yet, it often happens that a house, or a wall, or a stone falls, noisily moving from its place, and others are sitting there, and God lovingly commands the Angel to stop and hold this place from falling until those sitting there stand up or until he takes them away with something, so that no one remains in place; and as soon as they move away, they immediately let them fall. And if it happens that another is caught, he makes sure that he does not suffer any harm. For by this he wants to show the infinite greatness of His power. All this and similar things are the work of God’s Providence, which is common and extends to everything, but the righteous person has an inseparable providence over him 549. For God commanded other people to manage their affairs according to reason and to combine their knowledge with God’s providence; the righteous man has no need for this knowledge to manage his affairs, because instead of this knowledge he has acquired faith, by which he casts down “everything that is charged against the mind of God” (2 Cor. 10:5), and none of the things listed above will be afraid, as it is written: the righteous is like a lion who trusts 550 (Prov. 28:1), daring all things by faith, not because he tempts the Lord, but because he looks at Him and is, as it were, armed and endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit. And since his constant concern is about God, God also says about him: “I am with him in sorrow, I will destroy him and glorify him; I will fill him with length of days and show him My salvation” (Ps. 90:15-16). He who is relaxed and lazy in His work cannot have such hope. But whoever abides in God in everything and always, draws closer to Him through the goodness of his deeds and constantly directs the gaze of his heart to His grace, he can say about himself what the divine David said: “My eyes have vanished, because I trusted in My God” (Ps. 68:4). To Him be due glory, honor and worship forever! Amen. Finds some excuses to apologize. That is, the righteous person is under the special Providence of God. You might be interested in: