Where God is, everything is good

In the essay “Where God is, there is all that is good” by St. Demetrius of Rostov calls for constant remembrance of God. He explains that God, being Omnipresent, is present with His power everywhere, but with His saving grace abides only with those who heartily love Him, revere Him and constantly keep Him in their mind's eye, leading a life according to His commandments. Using examples from the Holy Scriptures (Judas, the prodigal son, Pharaoh, the inhabitants of Sodom, the elders and Susanna), the author shows the catastrophic consequences of forgetting God. Such a life leads to obsession with sin, likeness to demons and inevitable spiritual death. The final part of the text contains a warning that by doing evil to one’s neighbor and desecrating one’s own body - the temple of the Holy Spirit - a person thereby expels and dishonors Christ Himself. Where God is, everything is good; where there is no God, everything is evil. With whom God is a man, he does everything good, and with him everything good is done, but with a man who does not have God, he does everything evil, and with him everything evil is done. If God is with us, no one is against us, and if God is not with us, all our enemies rise up against us and overcome us; if God is with us, then the web will be a solid stone wall for us, and if God is not with us, then the solid stone walls will be a web for us and will not protect us. He who is with God, everything is good for him, and he who is without God, everything is bad for him. So, with whom is God and with whom is God not? Anyone can easily answer this. Whoever is virtuous and pleasing to God, God abides, but whoever does evil and angers God, God does not exist. God is with a good person, but He is not with an evil person. Of course, it is true that God, as Omnipresent and All-Fulfilling, with His omnipotent, all-containing and all-controlling power is with every person, and with evil as well as with good. “For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). So Life contains everyone, good and evil, righteous and sinful. “For in him we all live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). But with His special grace, by mercy saving, helping, covering and keeping, it does not remain with every person, but only with the one who, with heartfelt love and fear, turning his mental eyes to Him, always sees Him as if present before him, according to the word of the prophet David: “I will foresee the Lord before me” (Ps. 15:8), and for the sake of His presence, and love and fear of Him, whatever he does, whatever he says or thinks, he does everything pleasing to God, speaks honestly, thinks what is good and useful, spends his entire life, as if before the All-Seeing Eyes of God, virtuously and soul-savingly, often repeating with fear the words of the prophets Elijah and Elisha: “As the Lord lives... before whom I stand” ( 1 Kings 17:1), or, more broadly speaking: as the Lord lives, before whose All-Seeing Eyes I walk, stand, sit, do, eat, drink, speak, talk, think. And everything that I do, I do before His bright eyes, and therefore I do not dare to do anything bad, or say, or think anything nasty, so that He, angry with me, would not suddenly strike me by accident with my iniquities. Thus, where a person contemplates God with mental eyes, there He dwells; for He approaches those who themselves approach Him, is present with those who seek His presence, and looks at those who see Him: it is like a mirror. Whoever looks into a mirror also sees the face that is reflected in the mirror, and when he turns away from the mirror, the face he sees in the mirror also turns away from it. In the same way, the Lord our God turns to those who turn to Him and looks at those who look at Him; He turns away His face from those who turn away from Him and does not look at those who do not look at Him and do not want to see His presence in themselves. Let us consider how great the evil is not to fear God and not have His presence. Where there is no presence of God, where people do not have God before their eyes, where they do not look at God, there is nothing other than the presence of demons: there is demonic malice and swinish life, there people are not like people, but like demons and like demon-possessed pigs, drowning in the depths of destruction. Judas once lost the presence of the Lord in himself, lost his heartfelt love for the Lord, not being able to have it before the eyes of God, for although he looked at Christ with simple carnal eyes, his mental eyes had already turned away from Christ, they had already begun to look to the Jewish host and deliberate about the price: “Whatever you give me, I will betray Him to you” (Matthew 26:15). Thus, when he almost completely stopped looking at God and fearing Him, what then happened to Judas? Satan entered into him, and Judas became like a demon; for just as he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord, according to the word of the Apostle (1 Cor. 6:17), so he who cleaves to the demon is one spirit with the demon. An evil person is the same as a demon, because, having clung to the demon, there is one spirit with the demon. A person will stop looking at God, will stop fearing Him, will not even think about God in his mind, as if He did not exist, will begin to live godlessly, forgetting the fear of God, and will follow unjust providence, after unjust profit, will stretch out his hand to what is foreign and to what is holy, will stretch out his hands to theft and robbery, will encroach on his neighbor, will begin to seek his destruction. By doing all this, such a person is nothing more than a demon, for Satan enters into him, just like into Judas, and such a person is one spirit with Satan. Oh, how great is the evil of not having God before your eyes. The once prodigal son separated from his father, hid far from his eyes, and where did he end up? To the pigs: he grazed the pigs and ate their food, wanting to be satisfied with the faces that the pigs ate. When a person begins to separate himself from God through his evil deeds, when he begins to separate his mind from the presence of God, begins to move far away from Him to the sinful side, begins to acquire a swinish disposition and a prodigal name, then such a person is nothing more than a pig wallowing in the stinking swamp of bad deeds, a demonic pig, willfully rushing into eternal destruction and perishing. Repeating, I will say again: where there is no present Lord, where people do not have God before their eyes, there only a swinish and demonic life is possible, and the end of such a life is drowning, drowning not in simple waters, but in a river of fire. The angry Pharaoh once did not want to listen to God, just like the demon, he did not want to let the Israelites go - and what was his end? He perished with all his strength in the Red Sea, in a visible way, and in an invisible way - in his soul in hell. The Sodomites once gave themselves up to a swinish life, were raging with the fury of nasty carnal sins - and what befell them? They were drowned like the Gergesinian pigs, and the drowning was most severe, for they drowned both body and soul in the fiery flame that rained down on them from Heaven. But what was the reason for such death of Pharaoh and the Sodomites? Truly, there is no other than this one, that they did not have the presence of God, that is, they did not have God before their eyes, did not look at God, did not fear God. Pharaoh said: “I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Ex. 5:2). He did not see God before him. In the same way, the Sodomites did not fear the righteous judgment of God and did not expect terrible vengeance: their minds, darkened by sinful pleasures, did not see God; God Himself testified to this in His words spoken to Abraham: “The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very heavy. I’ll go down and see if they really do this...” (Gen. 18:20–21). Let us delve into what the Lord tells us. “I’ll go down and see,” as if He had never seen them. Of course, being the All-Seer, He saw them before and always with His All-Seeing Eyes, before which there is nothing secret. But in order to reveal their guilt, the reason for their destruction, which lies precisely in the fact that they did not look at God, did not have Him before their eyes, they were strangers to the presence of God, for this reason God, as if he had never seen them, says: “I will go down and see!” - as if to say: “The Sodomites did not want to remember Me, to know Me and to fear: so they will know Me now, they will see Me, they will know Me, executing them, Whom they did not know, the long-suffering one; They will see the fierce execution of God, who did not want to see and know the mercy of God. I have been patient with them until now, and from now on I will begin to execute them.” “Let sinners return to hell, all the nations who forget God” (Ps. 9:18). Oh, how great the evil is not to have God before your eyes, to forget Him! It is unknown which sinner David is talking about: “There is no God before him. His ways are defiled forever” (Ps. 9:25–26); but it is known why the paths of a sinful person are defiled at all times. Because there is no God before him. Why does a person transgress God’s good, holy, soul-saving commandments? Because there is no God before him. Why does someone dare to offend their neighbors, rob, kidnap, rape, embitter? Because there is no God before him. Why does a thief steal, a robber kill, a thief steal? Because there is no God before them. Why does one who has no shame swear, one who is accustomed to lying lies, a perjurer swears in vain, swears in vain, and a harasser annoys? Why does a person, who is full of sins himself, condemn others? Because there is no God before him. Why does a bribe-taking judge judge unjustly, a lying witness testify falsely, and an evil one deceive? Because there is no God before them. Why does a drunkard get drunk, a sinner commit fornication, commit adultery, not be content with a lawful marriage, defile many and be defiled with many? Because there is no God before them. There is no fear of God before him, he does not have God before his eyes, he does not remember God, he does not fear His Judgment, he does not tremble in eternal torment, and he does not expect the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no God before him. His ways are defiled for all time. Oh, if God were before the eyes of the sinner, if he remembered the future Judgment and execution, he would not dare to sin and anger God, his Judge and Vindicator. Remember the story about the chaste Susanna and the two lawless elders, the judges of Israel, who wanted to forcibly defile a pure wife, what gave them the courage to commit a nasty deed and what turned the righteous Susanna away from the nasty lawlessness? What gave the lawless elders the courage to commit sin was that they did not have God before their eyes, for they said: “Behold, the doors of the garden are locked and no one sees us” (Dan. 13:20). O lawless judges! Wandering elders! What are you saying: no one sees us? Doesn't God see you? You have hidden yourself from the eyes of men, but can you hide from the eyes of God? You have closed your doors from people so that they do not see you, but how will you close yourself from God? What gardens, what many-leaved trees, what dense forests and deserts and wilds or dens and abysses of the earth will hide you before the All-Seeing God? Don’t you know what the Holy Scripture says: “The eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun and look at all the ways of men, and penetrate into hidden places” (Sir. 23:27-28). And again: “Before Him are the works of all flesh, and it is impossible to hide from His eyes” (Sir. 39:25). You damned ones say: “No one sees us.” Thus, forgetting about God made them daring to sin, because they did not have the All-Seer of God before their eyes: “No one sees us,” they said. What deviated the chaste Susanna from their permission and kept her from falling into sin? The one thing is that she had God before her eyes. Let us listen to what she said to those sin-loving elders: “It is better for me not to do this and to fall into your hands than to sin before the Lord” (Dan. 13:23). But beautiful wife, God is high, you don’t see Him with your sensual eyes, why are you afraid of Him? Why do you put yourself, as it were, before His eyes when you say: sin before the Lord! Because you remember the word of the prophet and king David, who said: “I have seen the Lord before me (always), as he is at my right hand (on the right side), so that I will not move” (Ps. 15:8). And although you do not see Him with your carnal eyes, you see Him standing before you with your inner, spiritual, heartfelt eyes, and you fear Him as one who knows and sees all your deeds and thoughts, as a Torturer and a Judge; Therefore you say that it is better for you, without committing a sin, to fall into the hands of unrighteous judges who conspire to hand you over to death, rather than to sin before God. Oh, what a wonderful example of eternal vision of God! What a wonderful way to always avoid sin! Truly, whoever acts this way towards God, whoever always looks upon his Lord before him, will not move forever, will not anger God forever. If, like a man, he stumbles in something, then immediately, having God in his sight, he will stand up and correct himself, and thus the words of the prophet David will come true: “When he falls, he is not broken, for the Lord strengthens His hand” (Ps. 37:24). But let us turn again to those who do not have God before their eyes. It sometimes happens that we not only do not fear God, but we do something incomparably worse - we forcibly and dishonestly drive Christ our God away from us. But someone will say: “I never drive Christ, my Light, away from me, I do not dishonor Him.” If anyone begins to speak like this, then I will tell him: “You persecute Christ in every possible way and dishonor him, you persecute your neighbor, you dishonor yourself.” Do you want to know how you persecute Christ in your neighbor? Listen. Everything that is done for one’s neighbor, whether good or evil, is done to Christ Himself; as He Himself speaks about this in the Gospel: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). If you gave alms to a beggar, you gave it to Christ Himself; If you didn’t give to a beggar, you didn’t give to Christ; for Christ says: “Because you have made one from these least of these brothers of mine, you have made one for Me.” If you did a favor to your neighbor, you did it to Christ Himself; if you did not show a benefit to your neighbor, you did not show it to Christ Himself. At the same time, think about it, man, how many times have you not only failed to benefit your neighbor, but also embittered your neighbor? How many times have you refused alms to a beggar? How many times have you been unmerciful to those in need of mercy? When you act mercilessly and cruelly towards your neighbor, are you not doing the same to Christ Himself? If you persecuted and offended an innocent person, you persecuted and offended Christ Himself. As much as you have annoyed your neighbor and cursed him, so much have you annoyed Christ and cursed Him. Whatever you do evil to your neighbors, you do to Christ Himself, according to His word: “Whatever you do to one of the least of these brothers of mine, do to Me.” So you persecute Christ in your neighbor! How then do you dishonor Christ within yourself? Listen. Do you remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I, then, take away the members of Christ to make them members of a harlot? It won’t happen!” (1 Cor. 6:15). Do you understand what is being said here, man? The members of your body are not yours, but Christ’s, because they were created, created and redeemed by Him with His honest blood; and whoever defiles his members with unclean carnal sin dishonors Christ within himself, making the members of Christ the members of a harlot. Think how many times have you desecrated yourself by fornication, whether real or mental, and other obscene and godless, lewd deeds! But who will say: “What offense does Christ suffer because someone defiles his body with the sin of prodigal sin?” – Truly, a great offense: for the body of a Christian, sanctified by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, does not belong to him, but to Christ, according to the Holy Scripture: “You are the body of Christ, and individually members” (1 Cor. 12:27). And again: “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own” (1 Cor. 6:19). “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from the futile life handed down to you from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18–19). Know, Christian, the head with which you think about carnal things is not yours, but Christ’s, and you should not think evil through Christ’s head. The feet with which you walk into iniquity are not yours, but Christ’s, and you should not go into iniquity with Christ’s feet. The hands with which you commit filth are not yours, but Christ’s, and you should not do filth with Christ’s hands. Your whole body is not yours, but Christ’s, and therefore you should not defile the body of Christ with carnal, voluptuous deeds, for it serves as the church of God, according to the word of the Apostle: “The church of God is holy; and this church is you” (1 Cor. 3:17). Let us constantly have God before our eyes and fear him. The fear of God will keep us from sin!