Moving forward with God's help

There is no need to be intimidated by the task ahead. If you find yourself faced with the prospect of undertaking some worthwhile project that seems quite beyond your experience or ability, you can go forward expectantly. There may be lessons to be learned along the way that will open up new avenues of activity, uncover fresh abilities. This challenge could well be a turning point - especially if you view it as an opportunity, even a demand, to rely on God.

When we find we have no human resources to draw on, such as past experience in a particular area or a specific skill, we're often forced to turn to God for guidance. And this is the best thing that could happen! God's wisdom is infinitely greater than any humanly acquired knowledge. Our prospects are unlimited, because God, all-knowing Mind, is unlimited, and we all have access to His infinite wisdom. To rely on God requires humility, an essential quality for successfully undertaking any work. When we turn to Him with expectancy, completely trusting that as His offspring we're directly under His control, governed by His unchanging law, we can look forward to challenging opportunities and certainly not be fearful of them.

If doubts keep coming and confidence wavers, we might well turn more vigorously to the Bible for a better understanding of God. Those intrepid individuals in the Old Testament had their shaky moments too. How they mastered them is a constant source of inspiration and hope. Moses was so uncertain about his ability to perform the great task before him that he repeatedly questioned his fitness for the job. But once he realized he must accept God's wisdom and guidance, he went forward magnificently. He continually was able to renew his trust in God's assurance, ''Certainly I will be with thee.''n1

n1 Exodus 3:12.

Christ Jesus, our Master and Way-shower, emphasized throughout his ministry his complete reliance on God. ''I do nothing of myself,'' he said, ''but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me.''n 2

n2 John 8:28,29.

God's power and precise direction are as immediately provable today as they were in the times of Moses and Jesus. We, too, can discern spiritual reality and let it shine through our lives in increasing measure. We can bear witness to the fact that man is God's image and therefore expresses His nature and is governed by Him alone. This eternal fact is never affected by human time measurements, human reasoning, human experience, human learning, or human law. Because the image can never be separated from its original, man naturally expresses in full range the qualities of God - qualities such as intelligence, goodness, integrity, wisdom, creativity, vision. There is no short measure. The reflection is perfect and complete.

As we trust this spiritual fact and strive to live it, we're being obedient to the first commandment. InScience and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ''Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ.''n3

n3 Science and Health,m p. 467.

At every moment and at every step God is with us, because man is forever inseparable from his creator. Each individual, then, has the God-given ability to undertake and successfully complete a worthy task, however impossible it may seem. Understanding why removes the temptation to become burdened by a self-centered feeling of responsibility or by self-importance. If the task is not for us, we can be equally assured our Father, through His unfailing law of good, will clearly direct us. We have the ability to do what needs doing, because there can be no situation beyond the control of infinite divine wisdom. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thineown understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5,6