By Li Hui
Being used to hear the saying of “money is not everything, but without it, you can do nothing,” I always attached much significance to money and tried every conceivable way to make money.
After my parents believed in God, they testified God’s kingdom gospel to me and told me that having sufficient money for my needs would be fine, trying to persuade me to pursue the truth and believe in God properly. Though I knew it was good to believe in God, I still thought that making money was more significant because with money I could buy whatever I wanted and money could give me reliance. Thus I rarely attended meetings and always calculated how I could make big money away from home. Not until an incident I would never forget happened to me was my viewpoint changed.
It was one drizzling afternoon. I was walking back home from the market where I bought something. There was a small road I needed to pass through from the market to my home and it usually had many pedestrians. However, that day it was extraordinarily quiet and except for me I could see no one on that road. When I went somewhere that was three or four hundred meters far from my home, I suddenly felt someone was behind me. Before I could turn around, a long sharp knife had been put to my neck. And then a man said to me: “Don’t move, or else my knife will take your life. I’ve killed a person; some people behind are chasing me. You must shield me from them. If otherwise, I will kill you too. Anyway I’ve killed one and I don’t mind killing another.” Subsequently he pushed me to a tree by the road and put the knife closely to my neck.
I stood under the tree and was petrified by this sudden circumstance as if in a dream. As I came to my sense, I knew that I had been held under the murderer’s threat. Looking around, I couldn’t find a single person, feeling that my life might come to its end. At the time I had no idea who could come to save me. All of a sudden, I thought of God and so I hurriedly prayed to God in my heart: “O God! No one can help me now. And no matter how much more money I have, it can’t rescue my life. Only You can save me. God! If I can survive this time, I will definitely trust in You earnestly.”
After the prayer my heart calmed down a lot. Then I saw that five or six people in raincoats were trotting toward my side. They seemed to be looking for someone because they saw everywhere. At that time I was holding up the umbrella while the murderer kept himself closely against my back. I felt he was trembling all over. Though the umbrella and I could shield him somewhat, those people could still find there was someone behind me once they came close. So I pretended to be taking off my trousers, letting them think that I would have a pee. Seeing my such action, they all avoided me and kept running ahead.
Seeing those people had all left, I said to the murderer: “They are all gone. May I leave now?” Yet he insisted: “No. There are still some people behind to come.” He moved the knife that kept putting to my neck and I began to fear again, afraid that he would kill me once I stirred his anger. Then, I could only cry out to God desperately in my heart and remembered God’s words say: “Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things.”
Pondering God’s words, I came to understand that my fate was in God’s hand and so was the murderer. Without God’s permission, he would do nothing harmful to me. At this thought I became quiet in my heart, not as frightened as just now.
I calmed down and said to him: “What do you fear? I fear not. Isn’t it to shield you? It’s not a big deal. Don’t be nervous. I’ll help you. Now put away your knife quickly. Your hand is trembling.” At my words, he looked at me in surprise, moved the knife from my neck to my back, and held the knife point to my back. At the sight that he had been at ease, I said purposely: “Several people in front are walking near. Are they hunting for you?” Hearing that, he was so scared that his hand began to tremble again. And he couldn’t help but draw back his hand. I felt that the knife had left my back and then began to run away in a hurry. I ran and cried for help while he closely chased me behind. As I just ran for a few meters, I saw that he was about to gain on me, and suddenly there were two motorcycles driving toward me. The people on them heard me cry for help and slowed down the speed. I turned around my head and saw that the murderer had hidden his knife at the back and obviously slowed down his paces without daring to come close to me. Then I ran forward desperately when there were pedestrians on the road.
I ran all the way home. And as soon as I entered the door I slumped on the floor and my legs were still trembling. After taking a little breather I returned to my room. I stood before the mirror, seeing that there was a knife mark and a bit of blood on my neck. Back in the scene a few moments ago, there was not a single pedestrian on the road in the beginning; then when I ran away and the murderer was about to catch up with me, there were two motorcycles driving near as well as pedestrians again on the road. I realized that all these were under God’s sovereignty and arrangement. It was God who saved me.
Afterward, I read God’s words, which say: “The Almighty has mercy on these people who have suffered deeply; at the same time, He is fed up with these people who lack consciousness, as He has had to wait too long for an answer from humanity. He wishes to seek, to seek your heart and your spirit, to bring you water and food and to awaken you, that you may no longer be thirsty and hungry. When you are weary and when you begin to feel something of the bleak desolation of this world, do not be lost, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival at any time. He is keeping watch by your side, waiting for you to turn back around. He is waiting for the day you suddenly recover your memory: when you realize that you came from God, that, at some unknown time you lost your direction, at some unknown time you lost consciousness on the road, and at some unknown time acquired a ‘father’; when you realize, furthermore, that the Almighty has always been keeping watch, waiting there a very, very long time for your return. He has been watching with desperate longing, waiting for a response without an answer. His standing watch is beyond any price, and it is for the sake of the human heart and the human spirit. Perhaps this standing watch is indefinite, and perhaps it is at an end. But you should know exactly where your heart and your spirit are right now.”
From God’s words I felt God’s mercy and love for people. Though after Satan’s corruption we have had numb heart and spirit and ignored God’s salvation, God still doesn’t give up His salvation for us but keeps watching over and protecting us by our side, awaiting us to have our spirits revived and return to God one day.
I thought that my parents often asked me to believe in God properly, read God’s words more, and stop lusting for the worldly wealth and material things, which are all empty and can’t make people gain life. But I always turned a deaf ear to what they said and refused to hear their exhortation. Not until this incident happened to me did I come to know: Money and material things can’t save my life while only God can. I used to rebel against God, but God has never given up His salvation for me. When I was in the face of danger, He helped me from the adversity and had mercy on me. I was filled with gratitude to God and determined to properly believe in God, pursue the truth, and perform the duty of a created being to repay God’s love.
