Article December 15, 1923 Issue

The Word "Let"

BARBARA WARDWELL

It is very interesting and helpful to find how many times in the Bible, and in our dear Leader's writings, the little, very significant word "let" is used. In the dictionary we find that "let" means "to permit; allow." In the imperative mood it expresses desire or wish. Another meaning given, although not so frequently used, is "to hinder or prevent." The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Philippians, says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Here we find an example of the first definition. Could we permit anything greater than this, or more beneficial to us and to the world?

The tenth verse of the one hundred and nineteenth psalm reads, "With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments." Here desire is expressed—a desire so great that if we each would sincerely and eanestly possess it, we should never fear or doubt. Christ Jesus said, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." There could be no better desire than to abide in His love, unselfed and pure. In Isaiah we find an example of the less familiar meaning of the word "let." "Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?" In other words, I will work and who shall prevent or hinder it?

Many times we are confronted with the erroneous thought that we have worked and worked with no result. Then comes the question, Why? Often the answer is found in the little word "let." Mrs. Eddy says in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 495), "Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony." Are we willing to let God govern our thoughts and actions? Are we supplanting error with Truth? Are we not, rather, letting fear overshadow our clear sense when we allow ourselves to be confronted with a wrong thought? How very essential it is, then, to let God's love be ever present in our thought, and to let His law govern us; for He alone knows how to govern correctly.

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