Editorial March 16, 1907 Issue

'THE LORD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY LIFE'

John B. Willis

By a devious path, and after many a stumbling, David reached a consciousness of Truth, a sense of the presence and availability of the divine Life which accounts for his reputation as "a man after God's own heart." The calm, decisive way with which he expresses this sense in the opening lines of the 27th Psalm goes to show that his varied experiences, in mounting from a shepherd's cot to the king's palace, had brought him the clear, unquestioning realization that a simple and abiding confidence in God is humanity's only sure refuge and adequate support.

Prior to the awakening to this truth one's sense of strength is grounded in self-assertion, influence, muscle, or money. Upon these he depends, and if he reach his goal he wins the world's applause, and in its glamor there may reign for one brief hour the ego of self-sufficiency. Yet, however buttressed by human wisdom or will-power, this self-satisfied "I" is speedily proven to be a very ordinary affair,—yes, weakness itself in the presence of the brawling Goliaths which infest the path of spiritual advance. Christian believers have never questioned the all-power of God, but many have sadly failed to relate themselves thereto. They have not demonstrated Truth's practical availability in the human struggle with error.

An electric bulb, though insignificant in itself, becomes a veritable wonder when related to the sun. Through dynamo, steam-engine, coal-beds, and primeval growths, we trace its connection with the glowing center of our system, and find thereby the explanation of its marvelous efficiency; the sun has become its light and its strength. Thus may we also be linked to the infinite, through Christian Science. In the consciousness that was in Christ Jesus our articulation with the unfailing source of strength is effected, and this is the secret of true living which Jesus came to teach. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. ... The Son can do nothing of himself." In these words the great Nazarene discloses the relation of the Father's wisdom and power to his own personal overcoming and redemptive ministry, and to ours as well; and it is to the realization of this tremendous truth that all men are called in Christian Science.

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