Article June 4, 1927 Issue

Songs of Deliverance

JULIA SALOME KINNEY

OUT of his clear consciousness of the presence and power of God, David wrote, "Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." Although persistently pursued by Saul, David, by never raising his hand against his king, was consistent in waiting on God to deliver him. He found protection against the attacks of Saul by filling his consciousness with right ideas about God's protecting care. To these ideas he gave beautiful and poetic expression in the form of songs which extol the power and goodness of God.

Down through the ages these Psalms or songs of deliverance, written by David and others who knew something of the power of right ideas to overcome erroneous conditions, have brought comfort and strength to mankind. A missionary to the Mongols once declared: "When I cannot make headway in devotion I open to the Psalms and push out in my canoe and let myself be carried away in a stream of devotion which flows through the whole book. The current always sets toward God, and in most places is strong and deep." At the present day, when one must steer his course safely through the shoals of fear and worry over what seems to be a veritable sea of sin and sensuality, this Godward current is very much needed.

These songs of deliverance, which were David's defense, and which increased the devotion of the earnest missionary surrounded by a people devoid of spiritual knowledge, are shown by Christian Science to be some of God's precious gifts to His children, His ordained means and method of salvation. Right ideas concerning God and man, when valued at their true worth, and as carefully cultivated as David cultivated them, can and do deliver from disease, want, and woe, today as they did of yore. Mrs. Eddy, whom history shows to have been a student and lover of the Psalms from early youth, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 234), "Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love—be it song, sermon, or Science—blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ's table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty."

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