Article January 8, 1921 Issue

"Thou God seest me"

CAROLINE E. ROBSON

What a wondrous thought is this, "Thou God seest me," as uttered by Hagar, and when considered from the right standpoint what comfort and joy it brings! Before the light of Christian Science dawned on the world, this text did not invariably bring either joy or comfort. In our old pagan belief of God as merely a magnified mortal, the thought that His searching eye was upon us, spying out all our ways and seeing us when we transgressed His laws, and that He would certainly punish us for every such transgression, was sometimes far from reassuring. There were some of us, no doubt, who in times of sickness or sorrow derived a certain unfounded sense of consolation from the belief that God was conscious of these afflictions (even if He did not actually cause them), but what a broken reed was this on which to lean! It left the stricken heart tremblingly awaiting the next and perhaps more severe trial, and without any hope of a cessation of these happenings, till death in some mysterious way ended them, and all we could do, apparently, was to try and be cheerfully resigned to our fate, until in His good time He removed the affliction which in His wisdom He had previously decreed for us.

The rejection of this theory often seems a stumbling-block in the path of inquirers into Christian Science, for they think they would lose something by giving up their conviction that God knows and sees all the sin, sickness, and sorrow that befall them. They are unable to realize that this supposition if true would make these errors real and that by holding this theory they are depriving themselves of the power to prove the nothingness of all evil. In the glorious light of Christian Science how differently we read this text, and nothing but joy and a wonderful sense of protection and safety can come from the knowledge that the God who is Love sees, is conscious of His own—not of an illusion of a sick, sinning, suffering race, the sons and daughters of Adam, but of the real man made in His image and likeness, and so forever free from the assaults of evil.

Another thought which these words suggest is that as God sees nothing but good, His children reflecting His attributes can see only good, and when in our blindness we seem to behold evil, we need only ask ourselves, "How is God seeing this particular individual, circumstance, or problem?" and as the spiritual facts dawn upon us we get the right aspect of every question that may arise. As God sees man, so must we see our brother man, and no matter what suggestions of disparagement or malice mortal sense would impose on us, these must give place to the perfect model. Can any thought be really more blessed than this, that in all places, under all circumstances, God sees only His idea, man, and that as we "put off the old man," and are born of Spirit, we can forever rest in the consciousness of our Father's all-seeing eye, knowing that He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil," so what He sees is only good eternally.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

"Thou God seest me"

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access