No one is overlooked by God

One of my favorite Bible stories is in First Samuel, when God tells Samuel to visit Jesse and anoint one of his sons to be the future king (see 16:1–13). As Jesse’s older sons pass before Samuel, God tells Samuel that each son is not the king that God has chosen. Samuel asks Jesse if he has any more sons, and Jesse responds that his youngest, David, is out in the field tending the sheep. When Samuel sees David, God tells him, “Arise, anoint him: for this is he.”  

What I love about this story is that God does not allow David, Jesse’s youngest son and seemingly the least likely one to be chosen king, to be overlooked out there in the field. Nothing could have kept David from experiencing God’s wise and loving unfoldment for him.

It doesn’t matter what our status may or may not be in the eyes of others. Even if others seem to overlook us, God knows us at all times because He is the omnipresent, all-knowing Mind, and as His spiritual ideas, we are always in His kingdom. No person or circumstance can separate us from God’s love and care for us because He watches over all His children.

No person or circumstance can separate us from God’s love and care for us.

One time my boss asked me to oversee the development of a new department that she felt would be beneficial to the company we worked for. I worked on this project single-handedly for about a year, and my work proved to be so successful that upper management decided to give this new department its own staff and manager. I was not, however, chosen as manager. This was a real blow to me. As far as I could tell, none of the new staff nor the new manager knew anything about this work. I was moved to a different department, where I was totally unhappy.  

Later, an opening for a different position within the company was posted. I applied and didn’t get the job. Then, another job was posted. I applied and became a finalist along with one other individual who was also being considered for that job. When the other person was selected, I found myself feeling extremely bitter and overlooked. 

While sitting at my desk and feeling full of resentment, I became quite ill. It was lunch time, and I went home, where I could have privacy and call a Christian Science practitioner. In tears, I poured out my story to her. She said, “Well, you wouldn’t want to take something away from someone if that something belonged to that person, would you?” She went on to say that I could be happy for the other person and trust that God’s unfoldment of good for me and for all was law. Infinite, divine Mind couldn’t leave me out of its universe or without a useful way of expressing purpose.

As I drove back to the office, I thought about what the practitioner had said, and I could feel the resentment melting away. By the time I pulled into the parking lot at my office, I honestly felt happy for the individual who had gotten the job. I was satisfied that I was in my right place, too. I even ordered flowers and a congratulatory balloon for this other person. The illness I had been feeling completely and immediately disappeared.

Infinite, divine Mind couldn’t leave me out of its universe.

Though my thought had changed, nothing in my job circumstance changed right away. But I thought about this statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (p. 494). I realized my human need was not necessarily a different job. What I needed was to learn to trust God more deeply, to be grateful for the job I already had, and to better appreciate the people with whom I worked.

As I prayerfully worked to trust God more, to be grateful for His goodness, and to appreciate all of God’s children as the expression of His being, I became more at peace. Within a few months, a newly created position was posted at my company. This job was even better suited for me. I applied and was hired.

The most valuable lesson I learned from this experience was that, as with David, God did not allow me to be overlooked. I was not alone, abandoned, nor forgotten. God had always been caring for me, as He always does for each and every one of us. As infinite Mind and Love, God includes us all in His ever-unfolding goodness, and we can all feel the Christ, God’s message to human consciousness of each one’s worthiness and purpose as God’s spiritual image, or expression. With this spiritual understanding, we can patiently trust in God and have an expectation of good right now.