IN Biblical days, when something of everlasting significance was about to take place, at times the divine admonition to stand still preceded the command to go forward. Often the first step in the demonstration of Christian Science is to pause and wait on God. However critical the situation may appear, however imminent the danger, when we first silence the clamor of mortal mind, a way of liberation will appear at the exact point of the human need, at precisely the essential moment, and always in a practical way.
Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Retrospection and Introspection" (pp. 88, 89), "Mind demonstrates omnipresence and omnipotence, but Mind revolves on a spiritual axis, and its power is displayed and its presence felt in eternal stillness and immovable Love."
The value of stillness and its dynamic potentialities was illustrated in the experience of Moses, who after listening to God's direction was ready to lead the children of Israel out of bondage. We read that while fleeing from the Egyptians, the Israelites found themselves in a desperate strait. Before them stretched the Red Sea. In pursuit pressed the Egyptians, but the fugitives could not turn and fight. They were trapped. Any human effort to escape would have been useless and would have wasted precious time, thereby creating further confusion and sealing their doom.
