Article August 22, 1931 Issue

"Five smooth stones"

ADA SWALES

What an example of unwavering faith and wise reliance on God, not on matter, David expressed in his answer to Saul, who had armed him to go out and challenge the Philistine: "I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them"!

How humbly David must have sought God, and how earnestly, through prayer and supplication, he must have yearned for guidance, for grace and understanding! The harvest of wisdom he reaped is evidenced by his actions and demonstrations. Even in his youthful experiences with the bear and the lion which had attacked the flock, he courageously delivered the lamb; and when the enemy—the lion—rose up against him, he faced and slew it. That David had clearly discerned the availability of good, the all-power, all-presence of God, and the nothingness of evil, is evidenced by the promptness of his action and by its results. We may assume that he wasted no time running hither and thither, seeking human aid. Neither did he waver when, later, the menacing army faced the men of Israel, and he at once offered to go out and encounter the giant Goliath standing at the head of the army of the Philistines.

Few, if any, Christian Scientists in the early days of their journeying Spiritward travel far on the way without encountering some erroneous mental influence which would seek to deprive them of their newborn spiritual thoughts of the all-presence of God, good. With what a sense of security and uplifted peace and freedom they proceed on their journey, when, through such experiences, their conviction of the inseparability and unity of God and His idea, man, becomes firmer, and they are equipped to encounter even more menacing obstacles and enemies. These may come in the form of lack, sickness, deformity, or deprivations; but, whatever the mesmeric argument, it can be speedily disposed of if, like David, we have ready in our bag—consciousness—the necessary stones to combat it.

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