Article March 26, 1966 Issue

"Proofs of God's care"

GRACE M. PHILLIPSON

Have you ever read a story in which the characters went about their daily tasks with never an unexpected happening to mar the tranquillity of their lives? Probably not, for such a story would be so uninteresting that no publisher would care to print it. How many accounts are there in the Bible of persons whose lives were completely placid, with no trials or temptations to be overcome? There are none, for each event in which a Bible character is involved is recorded to teach us a lesson of some sort. The lesson reaches us if we are willing to accept it and if our eyes and ears are open to its deeper meaning.

In referring to Jesus, who was the best man who ever lived on earth, the Bible says that he "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebr. 4: 15). He regarded each temptation that came to him as another opportunity to prove to his followers the complete dependence with which they could rely on God when they turned to Him, rather than to material means, for help. Thus we learn that we must not complain when we have problems to overcome but must joyfully accept the task of proving God's allness. We must rejoice that we have the understanding of Christian Science that enables us to overcome any evil that may be presented to us.

When we are tempted to feel sorry for ourselves because sometimes it seems as though we no sooner conquer one problem than another crops up, we should recognize this state of thought as self-pity—merely another attempt of error to try to make a reality of itself—and say instead, as St. Paul did, "We glory in tribulations" (Rom. 5:3). We should know that each time we work out a problem, we have advanced a footstep along the path toward a better understanding of God. Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 39 of Science and Health, "We must have trials and self-denials, as well as joys and victories, until all error is destroyed."

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