Trust and Foresight ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD         Many good people are apt to think of trust in God, which is urged upon us in the Scriptures, as a somewhat negative mental quality, a condition of thought which relieves one of all responsibility either at the present time or in the future. A closer study of the Bible shows on the contrary that trust in God illumines all human experience, enabling us to grasp the lessons of the past and present, and prepares us for dealing with those of the future with more than human wisdom. The psalmist tells us that he who makes God his trust is truly blessed. At the same time he tells of having “waited patiently” for God to deliver him from a dreadful pit and “miry clay.” It is apparent that trust in divine Love and wisdom is especially needed when the senses testify to darkness, doubt, and danger, but mortal mind characterizes such trust as folly and would punish, if it could, the one who, like Moses, endures “as seeing him who is invisible.”          People who know nothing of the divine Principle of Christian Science remark sometimes that it is all very well to depend upon prayer in the case of slight ailments, but criminal to do so where conditions are serious. They of course fail to see how utterly illogical this is, and the Scriptural requirement is that we trust in God “at all times.” Here we may recall the mocking words of the priests who stood around Jesus’ cross: “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him.” Speaking of this experience of the Master, our revered Leader says (Science and Health, p. 50), “The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving the purpose of his mission, was a million times sharper than the thorns which pierced his flesh.” If Jesus had in any degree shared that distrust of divine power to save to the uttermost, the priceless heritage of Truth and Love which is ours today in divine Science would have been lost to the waiting centuries. The lesson of Science is that in every experience, great or small, we must trust God and cling to what we know of the spiritual fact until the light of Truth dispels all the seeming darkness. If we do this, the bright bow of promise will span the flood with its radiant hues, and through the arch we shall have at least a glimpse of the city which is lighted by the glory of God.          In the sixteenth chapter of John’s gospel we are told about the quickening influence of the Spirit of truth, which enlightens and transforms human consciousness, and among other promises we find this: “He will show you things to come.” This statement was doubtless intended to include universal and individual experience alike, and to reveal the spiritual fact which to mortal sense is ofttimes obscured if not quite hidden by the material counterfeit. With divine Science there comes trust in Truth, even before spiritual reality is fully perceived, and this mental attitude clears the vision and prepares one to grasp that which is invisible to mortal sense, and through spiritual illumination to take the right steps toward the realization of complete harmony. The first requirement is trust in God; then, as we read on page 84 of Science and Health, “when sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men become seers and prophets involuntarily. . . . It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind and of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future.”          Just here it may be well to see that the foresight which comes with spiritual illumination is best utilized in working out our own human problems, not in talking about them or predicting what we think will happen, much less in forecasting events in the human experience of others. We can of course encourage those who seek help through our understanding of Science to press on until fuller illumination is gained and divine guidance clearly recognized, even though the clouds of doubt and uncertainty may seem to obscure the path. Whether the command is, as in Moses’ time, to “stand still” or to “go forward,” trust is needed, and with its perfect exercise comes the unfolding of foresight with that joy which, as Jesus said, “ no man taketh from you.”   "Trust and Foresight" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, November 20, 1915

 

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