Lesson of History
The Old Testament is a history of the Children of Israel, a history that presents a repetitive pattern: as they turned to the one God, they prospered; but as they turned away to the idols of the people around them, they fell into bad times. Even with warning after warning, they never seemed to learn. They continued to turn away from God and suffer the consequences.
What was it with those Israelites? But isn’t it an example of the human condition that still exists today? The Bible, then, is not so much a history of an ancient people, but rather a history of the human condition. It shows us what works, and what does not.
The first tenet of Christian Science reads: “We take the inspired word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal life.” The inspired word of the Bible does not refer to certain passages of the book. If that were the case, we could simply cut out the uninspired stuff and be left with a small, easy-to-read book that would guarantee our salvation. No, Mrs. Eddy was referring to the word received by the inspired thought, the thought that is receptive to the message that God has for us today, to meet the need of today. In this light, let us consider the history of the Children of Israel and see how we can learn from their experience.
Why did the children of Israel leave their trust in the one God, even after they experienced the most wonderful demonstrations of God’s care — the escape from terrible slavery, the parting of the Red Sea, being fed with manna for forty years, etc.?
Preoccupied with the wants of each day, they forgot the tremendous displays of power of God from yesterday.
Idols were very attractive and you could see them, while trusting in an invisible God was unnerving. Everybody else was trusting in idols. Why buck the trend?
The idols of biblical times are not prevalent today, but you cannot watch TV for more than a few minutes without being introduced to the idols of today — exercise programs, diets, medicine and drugs that promise to solve all your problems. They cast a spell on the lazy thought, and soak up his/her time and energy, leaving God practically out of the picture. But the question to ask now is: “Do they encourage a greater trust in God as our hope and salvation?”
The Children of Israel were always in the minority as the single nation worshipping the one God. Today, those who take Christian Science seriously are, of course, in the minority. The world is not sympathetic with the Scientific Statement of Being! So, unless one is active in the Truth, striving to walk with God and use the Truth consistently, that one is likely to slip away into the mainstream of blind belief. It is astounding how quickly a patient forgets, having been at death’s door, pronounced incurable by the doctors, healed completely by Christian Science, and later remembers only after being reminded, and in some cases denies that it ever really happened! Cultivated gratitude is the protection against this appalling and dangerous condition. Gratitude is a spiritual quality that nurtures our relationship with God and keeps us safe, safer than any other insurance policy.
As the fortunes of the Children of Israel went up and down depending on their greater or lesser adherence to the one God, so do ours, and those of our community and nation. The Bible tells us so.
Andrew Kidd
From Healing Thoughts magazine section on Bible Relevance