God reveals what we need to know
IT was embarrassing. At the end of the day at the charity shop where a woman was a new volunteer, some money was missing. She felt that the treasurer was questioning her honesty. As they searched, she prayed that they would be guided to take the right steps which would disclose where the money was. She remembered Christ Jesus' words ``There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.''1 She stuck firmly to this truth for the next few days, understanding that divine law would bring to light what needed to be revealed. The next time the woman went to the shop she was grateful to find that because of something she had said the previous week while praying for divine direction, a co-worker had realized that a sum of money had been credited twice; there had been no loss. This discovery wasn't mere coincidence. It was an illustration that even the smallest details of our experience are subject to the harmonizing power of divine law -- that what needs to be revealed will be revealed as we faithfully look to the one omniscient, omnipresent God for direction.
Many people have found that through turning to God in prayer, they're shown the things they need to know and do. There is a completely sound and provable basis for this. It's the spiritual fact that man is the outcome, the expression, of God, made in His own image, and therefore inseparable from His wisdom and intelligence.
Part of Mary Baker Eddy's2 definition of God found in the Christian Science textbook reads, ``the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal.''3 God is all-knowing Mind, and our true being is the expression of that Mind. Discerning this truth, at least to some degree, and yielding to it, we'll more consistently recognize God's direction.
The one, all-loving God does not put us in hard situations to see how we tackle them. He is always caring for us, for every aspect of our being. If difficulties occur in our experience, the need is to prove this spiritual truth through steadfast trust in the one Mind for guidance and in the certainty of divine law.
The woman in question was later faced with a difficulty in her house. Water was appearing underneath it. A builder and a plumber both said that the floor would need to be taken up. However, the builder could not do the work for some time. The woman saw this as an opportunity to pray about the situation. The success of her prayers in the earlier experience helped her now to know that the divine Mind would reveal whatever needed to be known. She remembered that Jesus urged his followers to seek the kingdom of God and promised that God would supply their every need. Then Jesus said, ``Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.''4 It is His good pleasure to care for the harmonious operation of every detail of our lives. In the absolute spiritual reality of existence, that care is perpetual, a matter of divine law. When circumstances contradict this fact, we need to stick with the divine reality, see it as law to our present experience. We need to listen for God's guidance and be obedient to it.
One day the woman was cleaning a drain outside the house and put her hand up the drainpipe. She found that the back of it had fallen away, allowing water to drop under the house. Neither of the workmen could have found this out, because their hands were too broad to enter the drainpipe. The breakage was easily fixed without disturbing the interior of the house. Another small but persuasive proof of divine guidance.
Again and again in the Bible, people who trusted in God were led to do the right thing, and were empowered to do it, in difficult circumstances. Jesus said that nothing is impossible to God. If we doubt this, we are limiting the possibilities of good in our lives. The Christian Science textbook says, ``There is to-day danger of repeating the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel and asking: `Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?' What cannot God do?''5
We can wholeheartedly trust God to guide us out of difficulties, to reveal what needs to be revealed. Seeing the wonderful results is well worth the effort.
1Matthew 10:26. 2The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 3Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 587. 4Luke 12:32. 5Science and Health, p. 135. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalms 119:105
