It is a matter of record in the Bible that the children of Israel were at the borders of the promised land in somewhat over a year's time after their departure from Egypt, but it was forty years in all before their "little ones," now become the elders, entered it. The tarrying appears to have been not of God's doing but mankind's own sense of taking plenty of time to progress, for in Deuteronomy we have this statement: "So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there." The words "according unto the days that ye abode there" indicate the delay as unnecessary. Indeed very little is known of the thirty-eight years which elapsed between the halt followed by backward turning at Kadesh and the resumption of progress from that point. They are. however, referred to as the Wandering.
Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, makes a statement on page 229 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" which should and does cause the Christian Scientist to ponder whether or not he is making full use of the rules and counsel she has left in her written works. It reads, "It is true that loyal Christian Scientists, called to the home of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, can acquire in one year the Science that otherwise might cost them a half century." How comforting that she used the word "might"! It is well to ask oneself, "How much am I reducing the wilderness time for myself through obedience to her teachings?"
A Christian Scientist is not content to let the present war take a long course, that is, to be content with the inevitable victory of good over evil, meanwhile giving whatever physical and moral support is his part. He goes farther, even to challenging the right of hidden forces of evil to keep him out of the promised land of spiritual peace. Just so long as he does not mentally challenge with spiritual weapons so-called evil forces, he will abide in their seeming presence.
