What topics have we just discussed? We began by talking about the environment mankind inhabits and what God did for that environment and the preparations He made. We discussed what He arranged; the relationships between the things of creation, which God prepared for mankind; and how God arranged these relationships to prevent the things of His creation from harming mankind. God also mitigated the harm that many different factors within His creation may have had on mankind’s environment, allowing all things to serve their highest purpose, and bring mankind a beneficial environment with beneficial elements, thus enabling mankind to adapt to such an environment and steadily continue the cycle of life and reproduction. Next, we talked about the food the human body needs—mankind’s daily food and drink. This is also a necessary condition for mankind’s survival. That is to say, the human body cannot live by breathing alone, with just sunlight for sustenance, or wind, or suitable temperatures. Human beings also need to fill their stomachs, and God prepared for mankind, without overlooking anything, the sources of the things with which they might do so, those being the sources of mankind’s food. When you have seen such rich and bountiful produce—the sources of mankind’s food and drink—can you say that God is the source of the supply for mankind and for all the things of His creation? If, during the time of creation, God had only created trees and grass or any number of other living things, and if these various living things and plants were all for cows and sheep to eat, or were for zebras, deer, and various other kinds of animals, for instance, lions were to eat things such as zebras and deer, and tigers were to eat things such as sheep and pigs—but there were not a single thing suitable for humans to eat, would that have worked? It would not. Mankind would not have been able to survive for long. What if humans only ate leaves? Would that have worked? Could humans eat the grass meant for sheep? It might not hurt if they tried a bit, but if they ate such things for a long time, their stomachs would not be able to tolerate it, and people would not have lived for long. There are even things that animals can eat but are poisonous to humans—animals eat them without consequence, but it is not so for humans. This is to say that God created human beings, so God knows best the principles and structure of the human body and what humans need. God knows with perfect clarity the body’s composition and content, its needs and the functioning of its internal organs, and how they absorb, eliminate and metabolize various substances. Humans do not; sometimes, they eat imprudently, or engage in reckless self-care, too much of which causes an imbalance. If you eat and enjoy the things that God prepared for you in a normal way, then you will have no health problems. Even if you sometimes experience bad moods and you have stagnation of the blood, this poses no problem at all. You simply need to eat a certain type of plant, and the stagnation will clear up. God has made preparations for all of these things. So, in God’s eyes, mankind is far above any other living thing. God prepared an environment for each kind of plant, and He prepared food and an environment for each kind of animal, but mankind has the most stringent needs of its environment, and those needs cannot be overlooked in the slightest way; if they were, mankind would not be able to continue developing and living and reproducing in a normal way. It is God who knows this best, in His heart. When God did this, He placed more importance on it than on anything else. Perhaps you are unable to sense the importance of some unremarkable thing you can see and enjoy in your life, or something you see and enjoy that you have had since birth, but God has already made preparations for you long ago or in secret. To the greatest possible extent, God has removed and mitigated all negative elements that are unfavorable to mankind and might harm the human body. What does this show? Does it show the attitude God had toward mankind when He created them this time? What was that attitude? God’s attitude was careful and earnest, and it brooked no interference by any enemy forces or external factors or conditions not of Him. In this can be seen God’s attitude in creating and managing mankind this time. And what is God’s attitude? Through the environment for survival and life that mankind enjoys, as well as in their daily food and drink and daily needs, we can see God’s attitude of responsibility toward mankind, which He has held since He created man, as well as His determination to save mankind at this time. Is God’s authenticity visible in these things? Is His wondrousness? His unfathomability? His omnipotence? God uses His wise and almighty ways to provide for all of mankind, as well as to provision all the things of His creation. Now that I have said so much to you, can you say that God is the source of life for all things? (Yes.) That is certainly so. Do you have any doubts? (No.) God’s provision for all things suffices to show that He is the source of life for all things, because He is the source of the provision that has enabled all things to exist, live, reproduce, and continue on, and there is no source except for God Himself. God provides for all the needs of all things and all the needs of mankind, whether those be people’s most basic environmental needs, the needs of their daily lives, or the need for the truth that He provides to people’s spirits. In every way, God’s identity and His status are of great importance to mankind; only God Himself is the source of life for all things. That is to say, God is the Ruler, the Master, and Provider of this world, this world that people can see and feel. For mankind, is this not God’s identity? There is nothing false in this. So when you see birds flying in the sky, you should know that God created everything that can fly. There are living things that swim in the water, and they have their own ways of surviving. The trees and the plants that live in the soil bud and sprout in spring and bear fruit and shed leaves in autumn, and by winter all the leaves have fallen as those plants prepare to weather the winter. That is their way of survival. God created all things, and each lives in different forms and different ways and uses different methods to exhibit its life force and the form in which it lives. No matter how things go about living, they are all under God’s rule. What is the purpose of God ruling over all the different forms of life and living beings? Is it for the sake of mankind’s survival? He controls all the laws of life, all for the sake of mankind’s survival. This shows just how important mankind’s survival is to God.
Mankind’s ability to survive and reproduce normally is of the utmost importance to God. Therefore, God is constantly providing for mankind and all the things of His creation. He provides for all things in different ways, and by maintaining the survival of all things, He enables mankind to continue moving forward, maintaining humanity’s normal survival. These are the two aspects of our fellowship today. What are these two aspects? (From the macro perspective, God created the environment in which man lives. That is the first aspect. God also prepared the material things that mankind needs and can see and touch.) We have fellowshiped our main topic through these two aspects. What is our main topic? (God Is the Source of Life for All Things.) Now you should have some understanding of why My fellowship on this topic had such contents. Has there been any discussion unrelated to the main topic? None at all! Perhaps, after hearing these things, some of you have gained some understanding and now feel that these words have weight, that they are very important, but others might have only some literal understanding and feel that these words are unimportant in and of themselves. Regardless of how you understand this in the current moment, when your experience has come to a certain day, when your understanding reaches a certain point, that is, when your knowledge of God’s actions and God Himself reaches a certain level, then you will use your own words, which are practical, to deliver a profound and genuine testimony to God’s actions.
I think your current understanding is still quite superficial and literal, but, having heard these two aspects of My fellowship, can you at least recognize what methods God uses to provide for mankind or what things God provides to mankind? Do you have a basic concept, a basic understanding? (Yes.) But are these two aspects I fellowshiped related to the Bible? Are they related to God’s judgment and chastisement in the Age of Kingdom? (No.) Then why did I fellowship on them? Is it because people must understand them to know God? (Yes.) It is very necessary to know these things and it is also very necessary to understand them. As you seek to understand God in His entirety, do not limit yourself to the Bible, and do not limit yourself to God’s judgment and chastisement of man. What is My purpose in saying this? It is to let people know that God is not just the God of His chosen people. You currently follow God, and He is your God, but is He the God of those who do not follow Him? Is God the God of all those people who do not follow Him? Is God the God of all things? (Yes.) Then are God’s work and actions limited in scope merely to those who follow Him? (No.) What is the scope of His work and actions? At the smallest level, the scope of His work and actions encompasses all of mankind and all the things of creation. At the highest level it encompasses the entire universe, which people cannot see. So, we may say that God does His work and performs His actions among all mankind, and this suffices to allow people to come to know God Himself in His entirety. If you want to know God, to know Him truly, to understand Him truly, then do not restrict yourself merely to the three stages of God’s work, or to stories of the work He performed in the past. If you try to know Him in that way, then you are placing limitations on God, confining Him. You are seeing God as something very small. How would doing so affect people? You would never be able to know God’s wondrousness and supremacy, nor His power and omnipotence and the scope of His authority. Such an understanding would have an impact on your ability to accept the truth that God is the Ruler of all things, as well as your knowledge of God’s true identity and status. In other words, if your understanding of God is limited in scope, then what you can receive is also limited. This is why you must broaden your scope and expand your horizons. You should seek to understand all of it—the scope of God’s work, His management, His rule, and all the things He manages and over which He rules. It is through these things that you should come to understand God’s actions. With such an understanding, you will come to feel, without realizing it, that God rules, manages, and provides for all things among them, and you will also truly feel that you are a part and a member of all things. As God provides for all things, you are also accepting God’s rule and provision. This is a fact that no one can deny. All things are subject to their own laws under God’s rule, and under God’s rule, all things have their own rules for survival. Mankind’s fate and needs are also bound together with God’s rule and provision. That is why, under God’s dominion and rule, mankind and all things are interconnected, interdependent, and interwoven. This is the purpose and value of God’s creation of all things.
—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique VIII