Gifts of Heaven · Volume 2 · Chapter 271

Where is God in this?

16th January 1843

Jakob Lorber spoke the following to her today when he said goodbye to his mother as a parable that suddenly came to his mind to comfort her, as she complained about many a bitter experience.

[1] There was a man who was led to believe by the many sad events in this world that God does not care very much for people and calmly watches the weak being oppressed by the powerful and the poor being taken advantage of by the rich.

[2] Then God sent an angel to this man who lived a virtuous life. This angel spoke to him: "You shall know the incomprehensible ways of God, follow Me!”

[3] Then the angel led the man into a palace of a very rich lord. The angel gave him a large sum of money and many precious stones. During this gift a poor man contacted the rich man. This poor man was killed by the angel. Then he led the man to a village to an almost rotten hut, where a numerous, extremely poor family lived. The angel set fire to this hut, and the poor inhabitants saved nothing but their lives.

[4] When the man saw all this, he spoke to the angel: "You are not a messenger of God, but a messenger of the devil! You multiply injustice upon injustice!"

[5] The angel spoke: "Hear, and soon you shall judge differently! Behold, the rich man whom I gave a present, was proud and stingy. But when I increased his wealth so much, he began to splurge and squandered everything, so that he finally became a beggar and began to humble himself. The beggar whom I killed was well on his way, but he would have received a great inheritance the very same day, which would have made him haughty, excessive, and completely apostate from God. The poor family, whose hut I set on fire, was hardly considered at all in the village before. But the fire accident aroused great pity near and far, and the poor family was given plenty of gifts from all sides.