Many weary Israelites in the sere and sunless wilderness of mortal mind seem to prefer, in a mesmeric perversity, their blissless and bitter wanderings to the strife and warfare which are necessary to procure their deliverance. Kaspar Hauser would understand. There will be no dying, waiting, or loafing their way out of it, nor will there be a consoling sop for the feckless laggard.
One will remain an itinerant Israelite or through many wrestlings and struggles with error become one of the Children of Israel. Brother bird, with which of these flocks do you choose to perch upon the bending branch? The decision is ours. The grumbling of the disobedient Israelites for water at Massah (testing, temptation), or Meribah (strife, contention), illustrates one lesson the wilderness experience offers. Even Christ Jesus was tempted in the wilderness at the end of his 40 days there, recalling the Israelite's 40 years (see Matthew 4). The devil came to tempt him, and three times (another significant number) Christ Jesus rejected the temptations, the final time with the righteous command of Truth, "Get thee hence, Satan".
No one simple lesson can be distilled from the Israelite's experience or that of Christ Jesus, but one admonition we can take from either is that strife, struggle, and mighty wrestlings will be necessary to overcome the multitude of temptations that keep us in the wilderness and deny us the dawn of that kindly Light, a "spiritual sense which unfolds the great facts of existence". (S&H 597: 18-19) Our dear Leader assures the dispirited wanderer: ". . . we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain. This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science. Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way." (S&H 573: 26-30)
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20 comments:
Very inspiring, blogger. Thanks so much for doing this. Will help many.
Another fine little essay. You must be working under divine inspiration to do a blog post so soon.
Well done.
And another good blog posting comes down the pike. Like the whole thing, from the title on down.
Where would we be without the assurances of Holy Scripture and all that CS brings out to help us on our spiritual journey!
Know what? I think our dear Leader as you call her would be pleased with a student such as you. You are keeping after it, for sure.
You are right. The decision is ours, and as Science and Health says, our decisions will master us whichever way they take. (Mrs. Eddy)
Thanks much,
Thanks, blogger. I always (at least almost always) get a lot of uplift from what you write. And I like the way you write it.
Althought I'm a regular visitor to your website, seldom leave a comment. But will on this particular posting. Quite uplifting, I find, and I wanted you to know.
Speaking for myself, I'll take the struggles (at times) and the certain overcoming to the alternative. That is unthinkable.
A well done essay here.
Dear Sir,
A friend here in Germany spoke to me about your website, and I am continuing to enjoy what you are sharing on Christian Science.
Warmest regards to you,
Yet another fine offering from your inspired and capable pen. Keep up the good work, blogger.
Excellent essay, as yours invariably are. Such a pleasure getting to read well-presented CS topics by an obvious clear thinker. And a doer of the Word.
Hi there,
I've said this before, and no doubt will again many times (if you keep blogging, which I assume you will) that your thoughts expressed so well have helped me think more deeply about metaphysical issues.
Thanks!
As I've read your last several blog postings, keep thinking of something our Leader points out (and is it true!) that the warfare with ourselves is grand. A good way to look at the challenges that cause us to grow spiritually.
A good job with this subject. God is certainly the source of unending peace and help and love and everything else we could possibly want in this life.
Very helpful little essay you've done, and I appreciate all you are sharing with us out here. Anything that tends to make us dig deeper into the wonderful resources we've been given is a blessing, in my view.
Afternoon mystery person:
Continuing to enjoy reading what you're putting out to the world. It certainly is educational. The new words I have learned!
Thanks,
I happened to comment on your previous blog that I recalled something our Leader wrote about "wit" and I just found it. It's in Miscellaneous Writings, page 117 where she says: "I agree with Rev. Dr. Talmage, that 'there are wit, humor, and enduring vivacity among God's people.'"
Enjoyed reading this offering, dear blogger. You are doing a much needed work with your essays on our favorite topic--divine Science.
You were recommended by a friend of mine here in Calfornia and I like what I've read so far. You do write extremely well, as she said.
I'll be back...
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