The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 59 -
ABOUT HUMILITY
When Asmahael had ended his speech, Adam, deeply moved, rose again and said: "Enoch, behold, now it is your turn again! After all this it is only appropriate to hear words from on high, then to be able to act in accordance with the Lord's will For behold, I have done my part already according to what my love thought right, but our love is not always pure and, therefore, not always certain and, thus, the result of its actions not holy So it is now important that you, dear Enoch, let all of us hear the living voice out of you.
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Therefore, speak and show us the proper paths of your ward. Amen."
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When Adam had spoken thus, they all rose and bowed to Adam and thanked him for having ordered this. Especially Seth rejoiced, for he was Enoch's greatest adherent and referrer of his word, and so he could not restrain himself but called to Enoch, before he had begun to speak, a few encouraging words, namely:
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"O dear Enoch, what my heart has already for quite some time been mightily longing for, the good and just order has now effected through my father and your father. Oh, I shall be so very happy to hear the holy will in this matter. For it is true, we may often do something we think is good, but whether it is really good and right because we think so is quite a different question.
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"It is this you are to show us. And so begin to speak out of the life out of God within you! Amen."
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Then Enoch rose and began to speak to all, after having turned to Me in his heart, saying within him:
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"O You most holy and loving, great Father, Lord and God, give me, the weakest, Your grace so that I may in love and humility faithfully reveal Your will to the fathers and give them in abundance out of You what their hearts are thirsting for.
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"O most holy Father, only Your holiest will be done forever! Amen."
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And behold, thereupon I awakened Enoch fully and he began to speak "O dear fathers, that this is your wish is only fair, for God's love surpasses everything and all things are subject to His will; however, that you have called me to reveal to you in my weakness what all eternities will never comprehend and grasp, look, dear fathers, that is not just and fair of your fatherly dignity.
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"Do you believe that the Lord has less regard for one person than for the other if both act in accordance with His will? O fathers, there you are very wrong, for this is not so!
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"Raise your eyes to the spaces of infinity, full of light. Who among us can say that he is unable to see the extensive streams of light and all the things enveloped in it? Whose ear does not perceive even a slight breeze when it blows over withered leaves? Or is there one among us who has not been given perfectly usable senses and an actively feeling heart?
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"If all of us have been given this by the Lord without distinction, how should someone be more or less the Lord's, having originated from Him and wishing to return to Him again? O fathers, look, which child when it came to you to ask for advice would you not listen to and provide with what is of benefit to him?
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"Since you, as fallen men, are already merciful, even towards strangers, how much more will the very best and most holy Father do what is good for you and with pleasure give to everyone what is useful to him!
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"Therefore, do not think that I am a chosen organ for the living voice of God. Oh no, that I am not, but you are. Just turn to Him and you will surely be shown the will of the Lord. Amen."
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After that Enoch was silent, turned within and, thus, also to Me. And beginning with Adam, down to Jared and Asmahael, no one knew what to make of these brief words of Enoch. So they asked each other:
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"What does this mean? What did Enoch want to tell us, - that we might, like him, speak a word of life from the height of God? Let this understand whoever may, we do not!"
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In this way they were talking among themselves and they all marveled at Enoch's so plain and brief speech in this instance. Even Seth was amazed that Enoch had this time made short work of all of them.
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"For what is the use," said Seth, "if we are left to our own devices since we know without Enoch what we are capable of doing, how far the Lord in His Love is accessible to us and how much we have ever perceived of His voice. For this is part of love as wisdom is part of grace.
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"But how can a person love the Lord and speak out of Him before he has, of necessity, received the love and the Word from the Lord? Who among us can pride himself on this, except Enoch? As if I did not know what I could do!
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"Of course, we all possess the grace to be children of God and without doubt among all created beings the distinguished ability to be true humans as which we all have the same senses and use them in one and the same way; but let everyone ask himself whether, notwithstanding all we have in common, the same things give pleasure to everyone and in the same way!
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"This only proves that not all are given the same amount of grace, let alone the same amount of love. This becomes all the more obvious when one knows from long experience in what an erratic way love sets about every object it has seized and what detachment and self-sacrifice is needed to become strong in one's love.
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"Thereby I do not and cannot say that we are unable to become ever stronger in our love for the Lord, but one thing is certain, namely, that only grace is given us, instead of love, and only through grace the ability to earn and then absorb love. But we never receive it just because we desire it, even if we longed for it ever so much. In short, if it pleases the Lord to endow someone with an abundance of love, as He did for Enoch, this is a matter of the Lord's mercy and He does not need anyone's counsel if He wishes to do so. But listen all of you: this is certainly not the rule, and we may wish whatever we will, the Lord is still the sole Lord and does and acts according to His inscrutable wisdom as He pleases, and we are but witnesses of His acts before us and for us
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"And you, my dear Enoch, do grasp these words of mine, and then speak For your great modesty is well known to me and your humility has made you so dear to me. In future, you need not be so very modest and show us your great humility when it concerns a service you owe to God and your fathers. For, that you possess all these qualities we have known for a long time and the Lord knows it endlessly better than we do. That is why He gave you the love as a permanent gift and you need not give us any more proof, for we appointed you a teacher and speaker of God only because of these virtues of yours. So you may speak before us without fear as you have already often done
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"except if what you earlier said was spoken at the Lord's bidding, you probably could not speak differently and did right to speak thus.
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"However, when I think of what you said, encouraging us to listen ourselves to the voice of life out of God, behold, could not God have done what you did and show our hearts what to do, as you did?
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"But since you have already begun to speak out of God in this way, it is not enough to simply point us to Him from Whom we have received all things, of which we arc all aware. But in view of the fact that the Lord for the benefit of all has especially endowed one, it is only fair that he help with this abundance in one way or another those who are less gifted. Only thereby can we prove to the Lord that we are truly His children.
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"Behold, therefore also modesty and humility have, and must have, their most wise and useful limits!
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"Take it from the natural point of view. Look, if we, when the father told us about his physical weakness, had from exaggerated humility been afraid to grant him what he asked for, oh, what use would our exaggerated humility have been to him if no one had dared provide him with food and drink?
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"Therefore, true humility must never go beyond the sphere of loving activity if it is to be truly pleasing to the Lord, and so it is our duty to help each other as long as we tell each other that in this or that we need one another. And as far as the reference to the Lord is concerned, it is only fair that the stronger admonishes the weaker one and this until the other one says: 'Look, now the Lord has awakened me, too!'
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"Behold, Enoch, as yet none of us can say this, for we are all of us nothing in the sight of God. So let go of your needless humility and in the fullness of your love think of that which we all still need at this stage to enable us to appear loving and just before God!
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"Oh do not hesitate and satisfy our love for God! Amen"