Leaning on the Sustaining Infinite

July 10, 2019
Hymns: 53, 115, 46
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The Bible & Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

PHILIPPEANS

4:19 my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

ISAIAH

45:5 (to :) I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me:

JOB

22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

SH 473:8-10

God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power.

SH 502:24 (only), 28

The infinite has no beginning…The universe reflects God. There is but one creator and one creation. This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. 

SH 114:10

In Science, Mind is one, including noumenon and phenomena, God and His thoughts.

SH 72:1-2

There is but one spiritual existence, — the Life of which corporeal sense can take no cognizance.

SH 215:12

Whatever is governed by God, is never for an instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence and Life.

GENESIS

12:1-4 (to ;) Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him;

PSALMS

71:1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee…

SH 467:13

Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ.

SH 579:10-14

Abraham. Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle of being. This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding.

SH 180:25-27

When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible.

PSALMS

55:22 (to :) Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee:

94:14 For the Lord will not cast off his people,

PROVERBS

3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

ISAIAH

41:10-13 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

I PETER

5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

SH 234:3

If we trust matter, we distrust Spirit.

SH 42:19-20

The belief that man has existence or mind separate from God is a dying error.

SH 192:4-5

We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit our reliance upon that which is false and grasp the true.

DEUTERONOMY

4:30-31 When thou art in tribulation,…if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;…he will not forsake thee, 

JOB (Good News Translation)

23:10-17 God knows every step I take; if he tests me, he will find me pure. I follow faithfully the road he chooses, and never wander to either side. I always do what God commands; I follow his will, not my own desires. He never changes. No one can oppose him or stop him from doing what he wants to do. He will fulfill what he has planned for me; that plan is just one of the many he has; I tremble with fear before him. Almighty God has destroyed my courage.It is God, not the dark, that makes me afraid— even though the darkness has made me blind.

40:6, 8 Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job once again…Are you trying to prove that I am unjust—to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?

42:1,5, 10 Then Job answered the Lord.  I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful…In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes…Then, after Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before. 

JEREMIAH (Common English Bible)

17:5-8… Cursed are those who trust in mere humans, who depend on human strength and turn their hearts from the Lord…They will live in the parched places of the wilderness, in a barren land where no one survives. Happy are those who trust in the Lord, who rely on the Lord. They will be like trees planted by the streams, whose roots reach down to the water. They won’t fear drought when it comes; their leaves will remain green. They won’t be stressed in the time of drought or fail to bear fruit.

ACTS

3:19 … change the way you think and act, and turn to God…

SH 242:15

Self-love is more opaque than a solid body. In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, — self-will, self-justification, and self-love, — which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.

SH 455:3-6

A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt or a faltering and doubting trust in Truth are unsuitable conditions for healing the sick. Such mental states indicate weakness instead of strength.

EXODUS

16:11-15… the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat

DEUTERONOMY

8:11,15-18 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God…Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water…Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna…And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant …

SH 566:1-9

As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human fear, — as they were led through the wilderness, walking wearily through the great desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised joy, — so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for them who love God.

SH 322:26-29

The sharp experiences of belief in the supposititious life of matter, as well as our disappointments and ceaseless woes, turn us like tired children to the arms of divine Love. Then we begin to learn Life in divine Science. Without this process of weaning, “Canst thou by searching find out God?

SH 60:29-31

Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul.

JOHN 

5:19…Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

II CORINTHIANS

9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

PSALMS 

145:9(to :),14-16 The Lord is good to all: …The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

PHILIPPIANS

4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

JOHN (J.B. Phillips Translation)

15:4,5,7 I am the vine itself, you are the branches. It is the man who shares my life and whose life I share who proves fruitful. For the plain fact is that apart from me you can do nothing at all…if you live your life in me, and my words live in your hearts, you can ask for whatever you like and it will come true for you. 

SH 19:29-1

Jesus urged the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” which may be rendered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life, — even God, good.

SH 494:10

Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. 

JAMES

4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. …

JOHN

21:4-6 when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

SH 35:2-6

Convinced of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened by their Master’s voice, they changed their methods, turned away from material things, and cast their net on the right side.

SH 203:7-8;13

If God were understood instead of being merely believed, this understanding would establish health. … Spiritual perception brings out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in deed and in truth.

SH 254:10-12

When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path.

PSALMS

23:1-6 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

SH vii:1-2

To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings.

SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

“The Joy of Leaning on the Sustaining Infinite”

By Hazel Ruth Puckett 

The Christian Science Sentinel, October 1947

…In Christian Science we learn that there is no dismal past and no fearful future, only a glorious, eternal present… Only by gaining a clear and certain perception of the truth of this fact can we progress. Sooner or later we must all accept the fact that our work lies in the present. We should not be ruled or haunted by the aggressive mental suggestion of a dismal past that never existed, nor should we look with apprehension on a nonexistent, seemingly black future; both have their origin in the dream picture of error, consequently they are unreal and powerless. The false sense and dark shadows of a mysterious past or future must be displaced with the spiritual understanding of the present reality of existence as spiritual and perfect, God-governed and God-maintained. As we open the door of our heart and listen expectantly for His voice, God will increasingly direct our every thought and action….

PROSE WORKS

By Mary Baker Eddy

We own no past, no future, we possess only now. (My. 12:20-21)

The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged. (Ret. 22:1)

Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited. (My. 210:2)