Article July 4, 1959 Issue

LISTENING TO GOD

JACK A. KRIEGER

Listening to God is a purely mental process. When one turns prayerfully and thoughtfully to a contemplation of existence as created and sustained by God, it may be said that his thought is open to good, or that he is receiving God's thoughts. Sometimes our inability to hear God stems from a reluctance to dispose of the insignificant erroneous thoughts which the human mind cherishes and which might be likened to "the little foxes, that spoil the vines," described in the Song of Solomon (2:15) in the Bible.

The prophet Isaiah foretold the blessing to be derived from listening to God. Alluding to God, he said (26:3), "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." What does it mean to keep one's mind stayed on God? Simply this: to be conscious of the infinite, eternal presence and power of God and of man's relationship to God as His beloved child.

Mary Baker Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 275), "To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is." It follows, then, that as we begin to see God as He is, we begin to recognize ourselves as we really are, namely the recipients of all that He has seen to be very good. This should serve to alert us to strive enthusiastically for the ability that will enable us not only to listen to God, but to hear His word and be obedient to it.

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