God's guidance and continuing good
There are times when we reach cross-roads where crucial decisions are made either by us or for us. Who's going to be promoted into the new opening at work? Should I change jobs? Will I get the scholarship? Should I major in this field or that one? Am I ready for marriage?
It may not be readily apparent, but at times like these some understanding of God as the universal cause and Principle of being is genuinely helpful. Why? Because such understanding removes fear and anxiety, showing us that they have no divine cause. Then we're receptive to God's direction and better able to follow it.
As we begin to probe the Bible to discover the nature of God, one fact stands out quickly: God is good, and His work is good. Indeed, the further we probe this line of thought and the more aware we become of the spiritual sense of the Scriptures, the more this fundamental fact stands out.All that really exists, all that has genuine being, is the work of God and is good, good like Him. The discord and tragedy of human life aren't a product of God or of the divine will but of a false, limited concept of God.
When those who have discerned His nature have been faced with some form of danger, as Daniel was in being thrown among the lions, they have been preserved from harm, because they have glimpsed and obeyed God's unopposable law, which produces and causes good alone. Daniel, faced with the decision of whether or not to worship the golden idol, stood fast in his allegiance to the one God and his innocence before Him. Trusting God's goodness and control, he was unharmed. And his carreer, too, was safe.
When we face a decision, it's not a question of what will come about if this happens or that happens; or of what we'll do if it goes this way or if it goes that way. Confidence is not found in such human reasoning. But drawing on our understanding of God, we can proceed in quite a different way. The important questions is, What is the Father's will? The answer is that the Father's will is food and that He causes nothing but good. Can we be disappointed with good? No. Can we be anxious or afraid if we are certain that the outcome is definitely good? Surely not.
Christian Science teaches that man, the likeness of God, is created to express and live the good that is of God. This is apparent in the opening chapter of the Bible, and it's made even clearer in the life of the master Christian, Christ Jesus.
Humbly trusting God and yielding to His will, we'll find that our next step, whatever it may be, is our continuing expression of good. In divine Science, the form, color, nature, and outline of our experience is designed by God, good. The demand of prayer is that we be totally faithful to this line of thought, abandoning human conjecture with its fears for the security of spiritual understanding.
Certainly it can be challenging. But doing this fulfills Scriptural demands, demands that need to be fulfilled if we're to find evidence of the vitality of spiritual power in our lives today. A familiar verse in Proverbs states: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." n1
n1 Proverbs 3:5, 6.
Trusting in the omnipotence and immanence of God, we find the way forward is clear.We do not mistake the way. Furthermore, jealousy, envy, rivalry, hatred, and greed fall before the force of everactive good. The depth of love we feel when we trust the care of the Almighty beggars language.
In the Christian Science textbooks, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m Mary Baker Eddy n2 assures us, "Step by step will those who trust Him find that 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.'" n3
n2 Mary Baker Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
n3 Science and Health,m p. 444.
DAILY BIBLE VERSE Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. . . . for thou art the God of my salvation. Psalms 25:4,5
