Article August 13, 1921 Issue

Strength

BETH HUGHES D'AETH

"THE Lord is the strength of my life," asserts David in that wonderfully eloquent and inspiring twenty-seventh psalm. We are given the recipe for endurance with a very lavish hand through the whole of this piece of minstrelsy of the psalmist. David had no belief of strength in matter; he attributed all his energy to the Lord, the Supreme Ruler. In the thirteenth verse he proclaims, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." And that is the secret of strength. What a very simple solution after all! Just seeing the goodness of the Lord expressed. That is perfect prayer, and perfect praise. Though the solution is simple it may not always seem easy to work it out consistently. David knew this just as well as any of us.

Strength does not mean physical strength, though this is generally the aftermath if it has erstwhile been lacking. There is the strength of affection, strength of purpose, strength to do right under trying and perverse conditions, strength to see good though evil seems to predominate, and to keep the perfect vision in front of us till at last error yields. And the condition vanishes as we "see the goodness of the Lord" in all things. "The Lord is my strength," and this strength is perpetual, continuous, inexhaustible. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." There is plenty to draw from. This same strength is one of "the unsearchable riches of Christ," Truth; it is limitless. Since the divine Mind is strength and is everywhere, filling all space, here at this minute with you and me, then we have strength always at hand. The whole of this energizing force is ours, so long as it is rightly used.

The suppositional opposite of strength is weakness. How often we have heard it said, "There is no reliance to be placed on him; he is such a weak character." How should we act in such a case? Error is subtle; it may whisper that it is too trivial to be taken notice of, or suggest that you "treat" the one under discussion. One course would be neglecting a duty, the other gross officiousness. The demand is simple. Reverse the sense testimony; know no weakness, realize strength, "see the goodness of the Lord" as manifest through man. On page 183 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says: "Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength. Submission to error superinduces loss of power." We must stick to the truth unflinchingly, and in proportion as we faithfully work, strength will be given for fresh conquests. God, good, must be first, last, and all the time, then we shall be able to sing with David, "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect."

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