Divine Deliverance

W. Stuart Booth

How frequently are the experiences of various Bible characters seen to prefigure those of present-day humanity! And what helpful, inspiring, and directive lessons may be learned from the lives of those who, through faith in God and obedience to their highest sense of right, delivered from from evil, provided with human necessities, delivered from disaster! Naturally, he who stands pre-eminent among these and other men of all time is Christ Jesus, for his spiritual teachings, loving life, and complete work verified his Messiahship and marked him as the Exemplar or Way-shower for all mankind. He not only declared and demonstrated the illegitimacy and impotence of all evil, including sickness, sin, and death, but also promised that his followers should fully prove the power of God even as he did. The Master was familiar with the Old Testament characters; he referred to them, and drew helpful lessons from their experiences.

Of Noah we read that in the midst of sin, perversity, and corruption he "was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." Owing to his clear spiritual vision he must have foreseen that because of evil's self-destroying nature those who clung to evil as if it were a satisfying and powerful reality would be engulfed in and overwhelmed by the waves of retribution and fear. Also, Noah must have discerned the fact that these mental waves would be objectified in a flood of water, for he obediently built him "an ark of gospher wood" into which he and his family went when the destroying flood came upon the earth. Thus, for Noah and those who were with him mentally and physically, the waters served but to lift them higher, and they were delivered from destruction.

Considered in the revealing light of Christian Science, Noah and his experience with the ark point practical and needed lessons for men of today. Because of the idolatrous tendency of the mortal or carnal mind, spiritually unenlightened humanity continues mistakenly to regard matter as both cause and effect, as being substantial and conscious, and hence as the seat of both pleasure and pain—yes, of life itself. These beliefs are blasphemous, because they deny the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, infinite divine Mind; and so they naturally engender other ungodly beliefs, such as fear, animality, hate, jealousy, greed, and resentment; these in turn find expression in limitation and lack, sickness and sorrow, discord and death—a disheartening picture, indeed, for those who are not yet acquainted with God, divine Life, Love, and Truth.

The study of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and Mrs. Eddy's other writings and the application of their teachings equip the honest student with what may be called the Noah consciousness, for thereby he gains the understanding of the reality and immortality of that which is spiritual, and the consequent nothingness of material beliefs and things. (See Science and Health, p. 592:22.) One who prayerfully and humbly studies Christian Science and consistently obeys its rules for right thinking and living, thereby builds and utilizes the ark of divine deliverance, as may be seen by a study of this definition in Science and Health (p. 581): "Ark. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter. God and man coexistent and eternal; Science showing that the spiritual realities of all things are created by Him and exist forever. The ark indicates temptation overcome and followed by exaltation."

Generally accepted world beliefs in evil sometimes appear to be as an overwhelming flood. This may come in connection with business conditions; and because practically all forms of business activity seem to be interdependent, the Satanic argument of helplessness is liable to be presented. Even though one may desire to trust God to meet every human need, doubt and fear may argue that the tide of business recession cannot be stayed by the efforts of one Christian Scientist. Let that one remember that Noah's righteousness caused him to take wise steps which led to his deliverance, but it did not stop the flood which others brought upon themselves. Salvation is individually earned and realized now as it was then, and this is being proved by many business men and women.

Should fear of sickness and death sweep like a flood over a community, divine deliverance is available to all who will turn trustingly to God and wholeheartedly obey His law of harmony and life. Christian Science shows that an epidemic is mental, not material, and also that thoughts of fear, disease, and so-called medical laws are negative and powerless, because they are not from God, divine Mind. Those who build their ark of spiritual understanding, and dwell therein by consistently utilizing the truth with every problem which arises, rest confidently and gratefully in the assurance of divine deliverance. Under all circumstances it can be proved that "the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

W. Stuart Booth

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Spiritual Nourishment

June 15, 1935

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