THE WORD OF GOD — From The Scriptures

In the present world, the selection of such realistic persons continues unremittingly. When the period of this selection is over, the present system will be replaced by another standard system in which all good things will be allotted only to those who perform good deeds, leaving all bad things for the wrongdoers. Almighty God does not immediately catch hold of those who deny the truth and the arrogant in view of His rule of giving respite; that is, He gives them respite to the fullest possible extent, so that they may be warned and reform themselves, or finally prove themselves guilty. This rule of respite becomes a cause of misunderstanding to certain arrogant people. They forget their real position of powerlessness and start indulging in tall talk. But, when they are smitten by God’s scourge, they will, there and then, come to know how helpless they are, in comparison to God. When We bestow upon man a measure of Our grace and then take it away from him, he yields to despair and becomes ungrateful. And if, after adversity, We let him taste good fortune he says, ‘All my ills are gone.’ He becomes exultant and boastful. Not so those who are patient and do good deeds. They shall have forgiveness and a great reward. (11: 9-11) In the present world, man is given ease and hardship by turns. But here, neither is comfort given as a reward nor is hardship imposed as a punishment. The purpose of both is to put human beings to the test. This world is a great examination hall. The purpose of whatever happens to man here is to see what sort of responses he offers to different testing conditions. That man is a failure whose behaviour is such that when he receives some worldly bounties from God, he becomes proud; he behaves with haughtiness towards those who appear to him of a lower status than himself. Similarly, that person is also a failure who displays ingratitude when some bounty is taken away from him or he becomes the victim of some affliction. Even after being deprived of something, a man still possesses many things granted to him by God. But man forgets these and becomes so desperate over that one loss; he feels as if he has been robbed of everything. On the contrary, those who fully measure up to the standards of Faith are individuals who are patient and righteous in their deeds. That is, in spite of every setback, they keep their emotional balance and continue