by Evan Mehlenbacher
How does God help you out of trouble if the divine Mind doesn’t know anything about the problem you’re facing?
One of the basic premises of Christian Science is that God, Mind is all. Since God is pure spiritual goodness and knows nothing of sin, disease, death, and matter, how can the heavenly wisdom be aware of my very material debt, strife, or illness and deliver me from it?
I’ve thought about this question over the years and have come to the conclusion that God doesn’t need to know about our suffering to help us. Just as the sun destroys darkness by being a brilliant shining orb, God destroys evil by being omnipresent all-powerful Love.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. When I moved into my new office four months ago, I had a neighbor who played his stereo very loud. I value quiet and was concerned about how to deal with the high decibels pouring into my prayer space from next door.
In searching for a spiritual solution, I read in Science and Health, where Mary Baker Eddy wrote,
“It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony.” (390:7)
I decided that the discord that bothered me was not sound waves coming from my neighbor’s stereo system, but critical thinking about my neighbor coming from mortal mind. Mortal mind is untrue and unreal. It wasn’t my thinking. Negative thinking stems from a limited view of God–an ignorance of ever-present divine Love.
To correct the situation, I prayed to better understand God as omnipresent Love. I knew that in Love there are no obnoxious neighbors or irritating conditions. All children of God are united in one Mind, and work together as one–loving, supporting, and respecting each other’s unique activities and expressions of Mind. God did not make troublemakers or difficult neighbors, I concluded.
I quit blaming the businessman next door for the noise, and decided to prove in a tangible way that Love was in control of my office neighborhood.
I paid my neighbor a visit with the sole motive of loving this man and seeing God’s good in him.
When I entered his store and introduced myself, he greeted me with open arms. He was very kind, thoughtful, and considerate. He invited me to sit down and visit. We talked for about 15 minutes and warmed up to each other with ease.
When I left, he walked me to the door and said on his own prompting, “By the way, if my music is ever too loud, let me know and I’ll turn it down.” I about stumbled, but immediately thanked God for the offer. He truly was a man of Love, and God’s love was there within him in tangible meaningful ways. How could I have ever doubted!
Ever since that visit, he has turned the music down on his own and I couldn’t be more pleased. I actually enjoy his tunes playing mildly in the background. We are very friendly neighbors.
Did God need to know about my problem to help me out of suffering? Did God need to know about the loud noise to restore peace and harmony to my life? No. As I realized, God had already provided me the solution I needed by being omnipresent Love. The want was on my part. I needed to know the spiritual truth about my situation better, and as I acted on that truth by bearing witness to Love and living true to it, I found peace.
Like water removes dry conditions by being wet, God removes suffering by being omnipresent harmony and peace. Each of us can enter into that Love and let it wipe our fears, worries, and sufferings away. And that’s when the healing happens!
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Thanks for the clarity and simplicity expressed in this message. I recognized the need in me to bear witness to what’s true — and what God knows — about an uncomfortable situation I believe I’m experiencing. Thanks for the wake-up call! I really appreciate the email messages and send to friends.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Pappas
Tarpon Springs, Florida
Merci pour ton message Evan,
le père mère Dieu na pas besois de lui présente nos probleme parsque il sais deja tout,et tout est toujours bien dans son univers et nous l’exprimons les bien infini de Dieu.
ce a nous de change notre facon de voir les choses;
savoir que tout et bien en Dieu.
merci tmc pour l’amour de nous donne cette occasion.
jean claude tshibangu
rdc africa
In the past I have felt uneasy about God not knowing about my problems. It almost made me feel like I was facing them alone. This posting has given me a better understanding of how God is helping me without having to know the problems I am facing. Thank you for sharing this inspiring message.
A lovely passage about God not needing to knowabout the problem. And the harmonious healing of the potential noise was forthcoming and very natural.
Thanks for sharing.
I used to think that not only did God need to know about my problem, but any practitioner I called had to know all the details, too. I’ve since learned that it’s counter-productive and all that focus on what’s not true, makes it harder to focus on what is — spiritual reality.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that I advocate ignoring problems. But I’ve seen that when I focus on God, the healings come much quicker.
To #5,
Yes, the most important knowledge to gain is what is spiritually true.
“Know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” Jesus counseled.
If we spend a lot of time “knowing error” we’re not knowing the truth, and that approach can be counter-productive to healing progress.
I like the natural healing in this one, too. And the explanation of how God doesn’t need to know our human needs to supply them.