God's riches
Christ Jesus said, ''Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.'' n1 Do we really believe that? Do we know God as omniscient? And, moreover, do we believe that God wants good for all His children?
n1 Matthew 6:8.
If we are to confirm Jesus' words, why do we sometimes act as though God knows everything there is to know - except this one thing we have need of? How this would limit God!
Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, writes: ''Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.'' n2
n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.1.
God does not play favorites. He loves all His children equally and provides for them eternally. We can prove this as we turn to Him trustingly and strive, above all, to understand Him and to do His will. This applies to everyone. The blessings of God's care can be experienced by the unemployed or the impoverished or even those who have worldly wealth but little peace of mind. God helps us all , regardless of circumstances. But we need to acknowledge this and come to see it more clearly through prayer and a humble willingness to follow His direction.
A young woman came to a point in her life where the prospects she had outlined for herself often resulted in disappointment. She yearned for a more secure feeling about her needs and their fulfillment.
It was when she and her husband were about to be transferred that she pondered the Bible quotation mentioned earlier. The move could take them anywhere in the country and involved rented government housing.
Previously she would have mentally picked out her future home. And, as had often happened, the outcome probably would not have lived up to her expectation. But this time she had a strong desire to be where it was really best for her to be. She had learned in Christian Science that as God's child her purpose was to do His will. Because the Bible teaches that God is good and He is Love, she knew God's will would be not only good and loving but also the only right and satisfying answer to what she should be doing.
So, she decided not to interject her merely personal ideas about the transfer. She was striving to see the difference between the worthy desire and willful outlining. She expected good, but she refused to define it materially.
She was living in the first permanent home she had had in ten years. It was in a desert area, and she even put aside the strong desire for the next home to include at least one tall tree like the solitary one in her front yard that she had appreciated so much.
Every time the thought of the move came to her, which was often, she would say to herself, ''In God's way, in God's time, and in God's place.'' In other words, she deferred to God in everything, saying as Jesus did, ''Not my will, but thine, be done.'' n3
n3 Luke 22:42.
Finally, the transfer offer came. They were to move to an area in which neither of them had ever thought of living and to one of the loveliest towns they had ever seen. But the most interesting part was that they were required by the employer to live in a house that was lovelier than this woman could have imagined. It was as if by letting go of her narrow planning, she had unfettered her possibilities.
Mrs. Eddy, referring to God's infinite caring, writes, ''Rest assured that He in whom dwelleth all life, health, and holiness, will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.'' n4
n4 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 186.
DAILY BIBLE VERSE Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. . . . If ye . . . know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:7, 8, 11
