Articles

Our Wilderness Experience                                                       Joseph Carl Markstein

In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy gives the spiritual interpretation of many words used in the Bible. Studying these definitions helps us to understand the Scriptural messages.
     One definition is for “wilderness,” which reads: “Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence.” To human thinking, a wilderness experience suggests loneliness, doubt, and darkness rather than joyous unfoldment. But Mrs. Eddy writes, “The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.”
     Elijah went into the wilderness when Jezebel threatened to kill him after he had slain the priests of Baal. Discouraged and disheartened over what seemed the futility of his efforts, he was ready to die. This false sense of loneliness, doubt, and darkness disappeared, however, when an angel of the Lord appeared and ministered to him; and he went on with renewed strength to Horeb, the mount of God, where, after the disturbance of wind, earthquake, and fire, error’s claims to reality and power, had died away, he heard the still, small voice of God encouraging him to go forward.
     After Jesus’ baptism, in Matthew, he was led into the wilderness and tempted by the devil. But he refuted every suggestion of evil with the Word of God. Then Jesus said, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him,” and Jesus went on to heal “all manner of sickness and all manner of disease” among the multitudes that came to him from the country round about.
     A man pondering the wilderness experiences of Elijah and Jesus, saw, first, that before fulfilling their great mission, each one had gained a fuller realization of the nothingness of matter and evil; and secondly, that through these testing times, they continually listened for the voice of God, and obeyed it. As we apply our understanding of Christian Science, we find the sense of loneliness, doubt, and darkness begins to disappear as “spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence.” This is like a vestibule leading to the realization that the faithful study and use of Christian Science brings God’s omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, and the harmony and perfection of His universe and man, to closer view. Each time we overcome evil, we gain a higher understanding of Christian Science.
     The writer was attacked by a serious illness. In praying to heal it, he devoted much time to the study of Science and Health, especially pages 475 to 477, where Mrs. Eddy gives a complete definition of what is, and what is not, man. He had the help of a loving practitioner. The healing, which is complete in every respect, proved that error has no more power over God’s man today than when Jesus denounced and destroyed it. Through the experience, he gained a greater understanding of God’s healing love. His healing was an inspiration to others who needed help.
     God promises us: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.”
     Passing through a wilderness experience is of small importance compared to the blessings that come from it. We have this blessed assurance: “He who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God, its divine source.” (Mis.)