Article February 6, 1904 Issue

The Nearness of God

REV. IRVING C. TOMLINSON.

I Have been helped of late in thinking of the nearness of God. In Isaiah, 55:6, we read, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." The Christ was foretold as Immanuel, God with us, and through the help given us in Christian Science, it is our blessed privilege at this time to prove that God is with us. God is indeed near us when we truly know Him and reflect His love.

It is important to know how He is near us. There are two ways in which a friend may be near. He may be in the same room, and we say that he is near; but only as the friend is one with us in sympathy, only as he loves us and is glad to serve us, is he truly near. Again, though he love us, our own hatred may keep him afar off. Those are near who are one in purpose, sympathy, and life.

The Psalmist says, "For that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare." When our eyes are open we find God near in the bending heavens, in the opening flower in the lovelight that shines forth from the child's eyes. Let us train ourselves to know that God is near when two hearts beat in kindly sympathy; when a true word is spoken to an open ear; when a loving deed of kindness is welcomed by a grateful heart; when selfishness gives way to sacrifice and pride falls before humility; when resentment is banished and brotherly love floods the heart. As the poet says,—

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