"Stand upon the mount"
In the book of I Kings is recorded a profound episode in the life of Elijah the prophet. In that period of the history of Israel a great conflict between right and wrong was raging. With spiritual insight and courageous conviction the prophet was waging war upon unrighteousness. He was showing great daring in the exposing of evil. And evil, being exposed, turned upon Elijah withering persecutions. Thus it is that we find this man of God fleeing for his life. In a wilderness of doubt and discouragement he rested "under a juniper tree." So completely overcome was he with a sense of futility that he asked to die. But as he slept an angel touched him—not once, but twice—and said to him, "Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee." And he "went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God."
How unfathomable and unfaltering are the divine resources! How near and constant are the angels of God! These mighty angels, unseen to the material senses, but very near to those who seek God in every age and race, are defined by Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 581) as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality."
In the light of this spiritual revelation it is clearly seen that nothing could be more powerful than pure thoughts from God, infinite divine Mind. With penetrating rays they plumb the depths of mortal thinking, and guide thought to the truth that man, as the image of his creator, is upright, strong, loving, spiritual, perfect, and eternal. An angel aroused Elijah from his despair and sleep to hopefulness and assurance. This inspiration of true being, entertained and utilized, counteracted his fears and strengthened his moral courage.
Hosts of angels are here today, singing their hopeful, helpful messages to men, women, and children, iterating and reiterating the presence, power, and availability of good in contradistinction to the satanic lie that evil is real, and that man is a sinner. Without these holy inspirations in days that are arduous and difficult, the journey might be "too great" for us. When the prophet had come unto Horeb "he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" and gave the divine command, "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord."
"Spiritually interpreted," Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 511), "rocks and mountains stand for solid and grand ideas." It was therefore on the broad and firm foundation of Truth that Elijah was able to stand undismayed when the wind shook the mountain, and in the experience of the earthquake and the fire. Elijah had communed with angels; he could stand. Mrs. Eddy defines "wind," in part (ibid., p. 597), as "that which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things."
After he had heard "a still small voice," Elijah received divine directions for his further work. What a glorious example of steadfastness for us today! In the midst of the present world chemicalization—injustices, persecutions, turbulent error, and dismay—we may not find it easy to stand. But in proportion to our fidelity to the truth of God's allness we shall stand obediently, joyously, upon the mount of spiritual illumination. On the land, on the sea, or in the air, in foreign lands or at our own fireside, there may we commune with God, the one Mind. And in this secret place the devastating counterfeit forces of evil are seen to be but sensual beliefs, without power or reality.
The Bible abounds with stirring accounts of the mountain experiences of those who worshiped the one God. Moses, called to the top of the mount, from this spiritual height glimpsed a new concept of God's law and brought down to his people the Ten Commandments. On Mount Moriah, Abraham, faithful to his highest understanding, received a clear revelation of God as presence and power. Our great Master, as Matthew records, "went up into a mountain: and when he was set," gave to humanity a sermon so filled with spiritual love that only eternity can reveal the fullness of its promises. The wisdom and the practical direction contained therein form a sure basis of solution for every human difficulty.
The way leading up to the mount of revelation is never closed to the willing worker. The obstacles of the enemy, be they bold or subtle, can never close the upward way, nor prevent the messages of Truth from reaching unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Learning to think with scientific exactness concerning the allness of God and the perfection of man counteracts mortal illusions; affirming the truth and denying the error puts the enemy of false belief to flight.
If our outlook is narrow and circumscribed, it must be because we have not heeded the call to "stand upon the mount," for our view is dependent upon the place whence we look. Christian Science teaches that we change our outlook as we change the basis of our thinking from matter to Mind. Thought can become filled with beauty, courage, certainty, instead of with the darkness of doubt and defeat. It is the divine light that illumines the pathway; it is the glorious song of angels which bids us, in the words of a hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 74):
Go forth and stand upon the mount,
For Truth is at thy side;
The very rocks may seem to break,
And earth to open wide;
Yet error's tempest and its fire
Before that still small voice retire.
