One of the books in the Bible with which many
are unfamiliar is Judges. Probably the story of Samson and Delilah is most well known in
the book and some may remember the story of deliverance by Deborah and Barak. One theme is
repeated over and over: "And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord..." They kept returning to the worship of foreign or pagan gods.
Their prosperity and good times were the result of their faithfulness and adversity the
result of their disobedience and rebellion to God and his law. Also, when the twelve
tribes were obedient to God and the covenant, they had the strength and unity to defend
themselves from their enemies. However, when their loyalty was dissipated by the worship
of false gods, they became isolated and disorganized so that they fell easy prey to their
watchful foes. The stories in Judges are cyclical; turning away from God resulted in
oppression by their enemies, oppression resulted in their repentance and their repentance
brought forth a judge to deliver them. This was their experience again and again.
Many of us may recognize
this pattern in our own lives. We get a taste of Truth, begin to apply it, and find that
life becomes good—prosperous, healthy, peaceful and so on. But in time, we tend to
fall into old habits of thought and to forget our connection with the source of all good.
When this happens we experience a change of state in which we gradually revert to the
experience of a sense of bondage, helplessness and hopelessness—all because we lose
our sense of connection and again misplace our faith by investing it in the appearance of
lack of some kind. Remember, faith is the ability of the mind to perceive the presence or
the absence of God or good. As one of the twelve divine faculties, you always have faith
and so do not need to pray for more. What we need to pray for is guidance concerning where
our faith is directed and where to direct it for the highest outcome.
Charles Fillmore,
Unity’s co-founder, said that one of Jesus’ greatest secrets was that he
identified with God at every opportunity instead of with human lack and limitations. He
readily stated, "The Father and I are one." (John 10:30) "Whoever has seen
me has seen the Father."(John 14:9) "I am in the Father and the Father in
me...the Father who dwells in me does his works." (John 14:10) How often we identify
with the false gods of lack, limitation and illusion—I can’t, it’s not
possible, there is only so much to go around, incurable, it’s terrible or it is up to
me. Jesus’ words connect him to the one source of power while our false gods keep us
separate and disconnected. We unplug from the power source just as the Israelites did
during the time of the judges.
We all have an abundance of
electrical appliances in our homes which make physical tasks easier and provide
entertainment as well as information and education. They work well as long as they are
connected to a source of power and are turned on. I have a lawn mower which I continue to
enjoy after five years. I must have been one of the very few who thought a rechargeable
lawn mower a good idea. When fully charged it will cut for about three hours, far longer
than I care to. When I return from a trip to find grass nine inches tall, it handles it
with ease. It is quiet, smokeless, starts and stops with a switch; altogether a good idea.
However, it will not run on its own power forever. If it is not recharged it will cease to
work and no amount of begging, cajoling, or praying will get it to run again—until it
is reconnected to the source of power.
Our lives are quite similar.
When we remain connected to the source of all power and turn ourselves on by allowing that
power to flow in us, we can do all things because it is God performing the work through
us. Disconnected, we can only go so far and accomplish so much before we run out of our
own resources and our life-experiences are affected. Unless we reconnect and are filled
with God-power, our good seems to stop. This was the key to Jesus’ miracle-working
power; he knew the source of all power and remained not only connected but "turned
on" so God-power flowed and worked through him. Every time we say, "I am"
followed by some limited, human belief we pull the plug from power. Every time we worship
at the altar of one of our false gods we initiate a change of state toward isolation and
disorganization.
When this happened in the
lives of the Israelites, it was necessary for them to repent in order for guidance to come
forth and save them from their condition. Repent means "to re-think" or "to
change the mind with regard to one’s conduct." To change our experience we need
to re-think and return to the Source. We easily become distracted by life’s outer
events and forget our relationship with God just like the Israelites did. For this reason
it is a common theme in the Bible. Even Moses had to deal with this tendency among his
people. When the people became impatient because Moses had been too long upon the mountain
with God, they called to Aaron, the high priest, to make them a god to go before them. He
gathered all their gold jewelry and cast it into the form of a calf. Aaron built an altar
before it and the people prepared to have a feast in their new god’s honor the
following day. On the mountain, God alerted Moses to the people’s change of
consciousness. So Moses descended to the Israelites with the tablets of the law in his
hands. As he approached the camp, Moses heard the sound of singing and coming closer, saw
the people dancing around the golden calf. He was so angry that he threw the tablets down
and broke them, took the calf, burnt it and ground it to powder, mixed the powder with
water and made the people drink it. I love Aaron’s alibi. When asked what happened,
he said that the people called for him to make them a god, so he took their gold and threw
it into the fire. Lo, and behold, out walked the golden calf!
When, through our thoughts
and actions we turn from our source of life, love, substance and intelligence and break
spiritual law, we experience the results just as Moses’ people had to drink some of
their own medicine. Just as Moses had to return to the mountain for another set of tablets
of the law, so we need to return to God-power and Truth-thinking.
What do you want in your
life? What do you need? Are you a false prophet extolling other gods or do you connect to
the source of Real power? Every time you say, "Thank you, God!, God is my source, God
and I are One" or "Father, let’s do this together," you connect more
surely and completely to the power that does the work. As you identify with God, you apply
Jesus’ great secret and allow God to work through you not only to bless your own
life, but also to bless the entire world. Remember that you have the faith, the power to
perceive. Now invest that faith in the presence of God and not the absence and you will,
"Go out and make that wish come true." You have the power!