Editorial May 22, 1937 Issue

The Will of God

George Shaw Cook

A Christian Chinese woman was recently quoted as saying: "I used to pray that God would do this or that. Now I pray only that God will make His will known to me. God speaks to me in prayer. ... My religion to me is a very simple thing. It means to try with all my heart and soul and strength and mind to do the will of God." What an exalted sense of prayer! What a beautiful concept of religion! And yet Christians have believed that submission to the will of God frequently meant acquiescence in conditions which brought suffering and sorrow. Indeed, it has often been believed by Christians that sickness and even death were in some way imposed on them by the will of God.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 1), "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds." There can be no worthier desire than to know and do the will of God; and Christian Science shows one that God's will is always beneficent, always wise, always loving and kind. It may be said, then, that the earnest, sincere longing to know the will of God is essential to prayer. In order to know what God's will is, it is necessary first to know what God is—to learn something of His nature. Christian Science teaches us that God is Spirit, Mind, Life, Love—infinite, changeless good. The will of God, then, must be always and altogether good.

It is God's nature to be good and to do good. Therefore, it is obvious that His purpose for man is invariably good. Therefore, it is never in accordance with the will of God for man to experience discomfort, distress, disease, sin, sorrow, suffering, death. On the contrary, it is God's will and law for man to express happiness, security, activity, health, sinlessness—eternal perfection.

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