Article January 2, 1932 Issue

Waiting on God

WARREN BURTON WIMPEY

Throughout the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings the word "wait" is found many times. In Psalms there is a comforting message in the words, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." In the experience of everyone there comes at some time a period of waiting on the Lord. It may be that we wait for the "still small voice" of Truth to guide us out of a perplexing situation, or for physical healing to manifest itself. Again, it may be necessary for us to await with confidence the unfoldment of spiritual understanding. Whatever the need, one must gain a clear realization of what constitutes true scientific waiting if one's experience is to be free from disturbing phases of wrong thinking.

It is often thought that waiting implies inaction, but this is far from the truth if we wait with thought attuned to divine Principle, and therefore governed by spiritual understanding. When the period of waiting seems longer than necessary to work out a certain problem, it is usually found that some good is yet to be proved. It may be that greater patience is needed to balance our understanding of Truth, or the overcoming of self-will may be required so that a clearer vision of unselfed love can be attained. Again, an undue sense of haste may have to be eliminated from thinking and replaced with the realization of God's power and presence. The tendency to rush headlong into the fray and take the citadels of error by storm generally makes it necessary to retrace one's path; and this is frequently done with bleeding footsteps. Whereas, if thought becomes conscious of the unerring direction of omnipresent intelligence through the realization that divine Mind alone governs, one can patiently wait for the hand of God to guide and lead the way.

A subtle phase of human thinking is the erroneous belief that purely physical activity is a high form of divine expression; and so the spiritual activity of Mind is overlooked. Far be it from the teaching of Christian Science to encourage idleness of any kind, physical or mental, but this Science makes it possible for us to distinguish between real and false activity. In her short but highly instructive article entitled "Improve Your Time," found on page 230 of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy very plainly states that successful individuals "spend no time in sheer idleness, in talking when they have nothing to say, in building air-castles or floating off on the wings of sense." And in the paragraph preceding this statement she says, "Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much." An intelligent and scientific understanding of right activity is gained from a diligent study of the Bible and our Leader's writings.

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