IN the first chapter of his second epistle, Peter refers to the "exceeding great and precious promises" of God. Though the Bible indeed abounds in these promises, mankind has come to entertain a skeptical attitude towards them. Generally speaking, it has failed in finding their fulfillment because it has so persistently looked in every direction but the right one. Then, too, a certain amount of misapprehension has arisen because of the assumption by some that God can be bargained with as can be a mortal of variable moods; that His favor is whimsical, and must needs be sought without definite assurance of response.
It is possible that this misapprehension results, in a measure at least, from the fact that so frequently the divine promise is accompanied by the word "if": if ye do thus and so, then such a result will follow. A contemplation of the divine nature as so fully portrayed in the Scriptures, however, convinces one that the word "if" does not imply an uncertainty, but that it is used in the sense of "because," or "in consequence of": because ye do thus and so, then such a result will follow.
No element of doubt can attach to the promises of God, "with whom," as James says, "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Divine promises indicate the operation of a spiritual, infallible law. Indeed, a little later in the same epistle Peter rebukes this state of doubt by affirming that "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness." How deeply he had drunk of the truth and proved its potency during those few years of which the Bible tells us! All that Peter found possible, through knowledge of God, is possible also to each of us.
One of the promises to which men and women have turned hopefully is contained in the first chapter of Isaiah, and reads, "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." That is, surely, the desire of mankind—to be partakers of the good which refreshes and sustains. Perhaps there never was a time when so many people were striving to be obedient as at present—seeking to gain a better understanding of what God is and what He requires, and to bring their lives into accord therewith. If, then, the desire to be obedient is intelligently cultivated and faithfully translated into daily living, and yet the divine promise quoted is not being realized in one's experience, there is manifestly something wrong. In seeking to identify that something, one may, perhaps, need look no farther than to the other requirement of the promise. Is that obedience without deviation a "willing" one?
The necessity for meeting this question squarely and dealing with it honestly is fundamental. The quality of our obedience determines its value, because in the degree that it falls short of being wholly willing it implies a distrust of the wisdom and beneficence of the divine purpose. How can reluctant, grudging obedience expect to receive the fruits which are the reward of an attitude wholly unlike itself? Multitudes have found comfort in treading life's pathway with their hand in God's. But in honesty to one's self, one must recognize what is so often the case, namely, that the step is an uncertain and a lagging one, accompanied by lingering, longing, backward glances!
Grudging, hesitant obedience can be occasioned only by lack of an understanding of God; but there is no place for such reluctance in the recognition of His tender, loving care and wise provision for His children. God has but one plan for all His creation, and that, like Himself, is good. This fact discerned, one cannot hesitate to hasten in following His leading, with gratitude for its unchanging and beneficent character.
Much is heard of "Christian resignation," but it is lamentably true that it is commonly accompanied by long faces and doleful expressions. That is not the teaching, nor the example, of Christ Jesus. There is a resignation familiar to the students of Christian Science, to be sure, but it does not consist in supine submission to anything that is unlike good. Rather, it consists in laying down the demands of the so-called human will in willing acceptance of what Paul, in the twelfth chapter of his epistle to the Romans, designates "that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Could one desire more of that will than is imputed to it by these three adjectives?
The Bible tells of many who were willing and obedient, and who in consequence found the promises both "great and precious," as Peter describes them. There was Abraham, who, without question, took the steps which seemed to lead to the sacrifice of his only and beloved son, until at the final moment his hand was stayed by the revelation that obedience to the divine purpose did not demand it. When Moses was commanded to lead his people through the midst of the waters of the Red Sea, which rose menacingly before them, he betrayed no hesitant unwillingness. Centuries later there were the ten lepers of whom Luke tells us in the seventeenth chapter of his Gospel, who stood "afar off" and called to Jesus as he passed by, hoping to be healed, as others had been. There was apparently something to be done by them before that event, however, for they were bidden to go and show themselves to the priests; and then the miracle of grace appeared, for we read that "as they went, they were cleansed." The healing came about as they were willingly obedient. Can one doubt the part willing obedience played in the result?
In Scriptural history, Jesus supremely lived the life of full, unquestioning, and willing obedience to the Father. It enabled him constantly to deny the human self and its clamorous claims. It led him to that moment on the cross when his most complete demonstration of this promise-winning obedience was voiced in those mighty words, "Not my will, but thine, be done." It led him yet farther; for did not his willing obedience bring him forth from the tomb? It will lead us, also, out of the inharmony, distress, and deprivation in which "the carnal mind," which Paul tells us is "enmity against God," seeks to entomb us.
In these latter days came one who in the highest degree demonstrated this same character of obedience to God, whom she revealed anew—Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. The broad education of her youthful years had taught her that the sciences demand exact adherence to their rules. It was therefore not difficult for her to recognize that it must assuredly be true also of the Science of being. Mrs. Eddy was willing in her obedience, because, from the first glimpse she had of Christian Science, she desired to perfect and protect it for the benefit of mankind. Always that desirable goal was before her, and there could be no half-hearted or reluctant pursuit of the path which she saw leading toward it.
It was inevitable that out of this consecration Mrs. Eddy should have pondered deeply the demands of obedience, and been impelled to express herself to her students regarding it. She did this many times, and in her "Miscellaneous Writings" is to be found an address devoted to the subject. Particularly pertinent is the admonition in this address, "Be sure that God directs your way; then, hasten to follow under every circumstance" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 117). The quality of alert obedience implies no heedless haste. There must be the waiting, long or short, necessary to "be sure that God directs." But this period of waiting need be neither irksome nor barren, since Mrs. Eddy reminds us it is "Life divine, that owns each waiting hour" (ibid., p. 389; Poems, p. 4). A sense of that ownership denies distress and deprivation.
But, asks someone, how can I be sure of the course I should take? Many different ones seem to present themselves. When, putting all sense of self in the background, one seeks humbly and prayerfully to know God's will, he may confidently feel that the step discerned is the one which most nearly meets his conception of the right. Then he can go forward knowing that, as he continues to do so in that same spirit, gentle, loving guidance will be at his hand to correct any mistakes, and that a constantly enlightened spiritual sense will show him each further step in its proper order. But one step can be taken at a time, and Mrs. Eddy assures us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 454) that "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way."
Somewhat akin to this question is the statement, I do not know what I am going to do. When one does faithfully the thing which obedience demands at present, and is earnestly, joyfully, and confidently looking to divine guidance, he will find that the demands of each succeeding moment are unfolding to his consciousness naturally and normally, and that with the unfolding come the intelligence and strength to meet them. Except as mortals consent to the imposition of false education and false laws, so called, existence is not a series of harmonious experiences which from time to time are interrupted and turned awry by those of a contrary character. True existence, proceeding from God and sustained by Him, is in every hour as harmonious as God Himself.
Sometimes persons whom circumstances have separated from positions which had given them a stipulated income are counseled that they should accept nothing less financially remunerative, for the reason that there are no retrograde steps in Christian Science. But the steps cognized by Christian Science are spiritual, not material; and when prayerfully and humbly taken in the light which this Science throws upon man, his status and dominion assure him a satisfying sense of good. The path which today may seem very humble, promising little of material worth, may even then or on another early day prove an opportunity for great service to God and to one's brother—opportunity to bear witness to God's perfectly good creation; and this service, rather than material accumulation, is the essential demand. When one is found faithful to his highest sense of service, then the things which mortal mind has been declaring about him will be found gradually disappearing; and he will relinquish the notion that he has some particular status to regain or maintain because of its material emoluments. In this way he will be found in harmonious circumstances and surroundings, and in the assurance of his entire well-being.
Obedience is to be regarded as of paramount importance in all that pertains to progress toward the things of God, and the nature of our obedience determines its value. We can be forced by the stress of circumstances into a semblance of willing obedience; but what child of a tender, loving Father wishes to be brought into that attitude? Rather, then, be the desire to cultivate that spontaneous, joyful obedience to the divine leadings, which will enable it to be said of one, in the words of a hymn:
"Happy the man, who knows
His Master to obey;
Whose life of care and labor flows,
Where God points out the way."
