Giving our consent
There is much to be said for the willingness to admit that something can be done about a problem. If based on the understanding of God's all-power and loving care, such an admission is more than positive thinking. It expresses the Christian qualities of faith, meekness, hope.
Admitting that something can be done -- because God can do it -- requires that we eliminate self-will and mere human contrivance. Only then can we give our consent to God's, divine Love's, government of the situation.
Not everything we set our minds to can or should be done. But humble prayer to the Father enables us to know the right course to take. We may feel impelled to go ahead with a certain endeavor, or to revise our original plans, or even to abandon a project altogether.
Consenting to let God govern means yielding to His will. This is an active, not a passive, effort. It involves listening for divine direction and joyously obeying it, as the following incident shows.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, had set a date for the completion of the large Extension to the Original Edifice of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. But as construction proceeded, the prospects for finishing on time looked bleak. The building was, however, completed by the deadline that Mrs. Eddy had given. A student of Christian Science, and close observer of much of the construction work, wrote to her in part: ''One feature about the work interested me. I noticed that as soon as the workmen began to admit that the work could be done, everything seemed to move as by magic; the human mind was giving its consent. This taught me that I should be willing to let God work.''n1
n1 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,m p. 61.
Being willing to let God work was a central theme of Christ Jesus' career. And he encouraged his followers to trust God's wise government. ''If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,'' he said, ''ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.''n2
n2 Matthew 17:20.
Sometimes a ''mountain'' in our own experience appears immovable: a lingering illness, a strained relationship, a pile of unpaid bills. But if we are willing to consent to the fact that -- whatever the problem -- it can be solved, and then trust the situation to God, we are well on our way to working out a healing solution.
In some cases we may need to plumb the depths in self-examination and ask: Am I admitting wholeheartedly that this can be done, or am I busy rehearsing why I think it cannot be? Am I truly willing to trust God, omnipresent Love, and follow in the way He points out, or am I relying on my own resourcefulness? Do I fully recognize that infinite Mind has an answer to this problem, even though it defies my personal reason and ability?
The human mind would offer all sorts of excuses for not yielding its consent to a God-derived solution. If the problem is a recurring one, we may think that since it has not been solved yet, it is not likely to be. Perhaps we think our particular trouble is one that no one else has, so there is no known answer. Or we may feel that a very serious problem is beyond the point where it can be solved -- that some challenges, such as unemployment or the depletion of natural resources, are simply too large to respond to our prayers.
But Mrs. Eddy asks pointedly in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ''What cannot God do?''n3 Christian Science teaches that God is divine Principle, the source of all law. The law of God is good, and as we yield to this law, it operates to establish harmony, regardless of the classification of a problem. Harmony is the eternal fact of man's being as the spiritual, unflawed image of God -- and this can be proved. Divine Principle, understood and demonstrated, is equal to any situation.
n3 Science and Health,m p. 135.
No difficulty is too large or too small, too serious or too trivial, too complex or too simple, to yield to the unerring law of divine Principle. Seeing this, we can begin to admit that, regardless of the problem, it can in fact be healed, because God is able to do it. We can give our consent -- now! DAILY BIBLE VERSE Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. Isaiah 12:2