Article December 15, 1951 Issue

ACKNOWLEDGING "THE INFINITE UNSEEN"

BENJAMIN N. RIPPE

The scientific acknowledgment of the presence, power, and infinite goodness of God under every circumstance in which we may find ourselves is true gratitude. And since the recognition of God's allness—His omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence—which is the foundation of all true gratitude, is not at all dependent upon one's human condition or situation, it follows that constant gratitude can and must be expressed, even in the face of what may seem to be a difficult human experience.

The Bible presents countless illustrations and proofs of this important truth. Hagar, for example, having wandered hopelessly in the wilderness without drink for herself or her child, was awakened from discouragement and despair by the angel's words (Gen. 21:17), "What aileth thee, Hagar?" to the dawning recognition, even before it was made evident in experience, that the omnipresence of God, good, precludes affliction. And then she found the needed water just at hand.

So to each one of us, in whatever desperate situation we may seem to be, there comes as we listen for it the angel voice asking, "What aileth thee?" What can overpower omnipotence or displace omnipresence? What can outwit omniscience? When grateful acknowledgment of spiritual perfection as the present reality enables us, despite the material evidence to the contrary, to answer the angel query aright, that acknowledgment is translated in our immediate experience, as it was in Hagar's, into terms which meet the human need and which are cognizable by our present state of consciousness.

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