Article January 30, 1965 Issue

Accepting Challenges

EARL ALBERT RUSSELL

Every day brings new considerations, new approaches, new challenges. It is well, therefore, to realize that there is inherent in human consciousness the urge to go forward, to improve and to better thought and actions. This urge is indicated in the declaration of the Psalmist (Ps. 17:15), "I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness," and is tantamount to his saying that he would not be satisfied until then.

Challenges are always mental; they must be accepted mentally. Accepting challenges is fatuous, however, unless one is prepared to meet them and to profit by accepting them. Readiness is always the primary need. Only mortals have to meet challenges; man, made in the likeness of Spirit, God, has no challenges. Nothing inharmonious can exist or even seem to exist in the realm of the real: perfect God and perfect man, perfect cause and perfect effect.

When Goliath challenged the children of Israel, they were not prepared; so they feared to accept his challenge. David alone was unafraid: he was not dismayed by Goliath or by an encounter with him. His reply to Goliath was indicative of his fearless faith in God. He said (I Sam. 17:15, 46), "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." And then he added, "This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand." He slew the giant with but a single small stone.

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