A: No, God is no respecter of persons. The same message that you are to hear, anyone could hear provided he is tuned in to it. Tuning in to God is similar, in a sense, to tuning in to radio or television. There are not different programs for each home. There is just one program at a time going out from any one radio or TV station, and anyone who tunes in to that station can receive that particular message. In like manner, God is forever expressing God; God is forever expressing Himself; God is forever expressing truth; God is forever expressing life; God is forever expressing love; and when you tune in to God, you receive truth, life, or love, assurance or comfort. The particular message that you receive is the one which your particular consciousness interprets for you in accordance with your need.
The voice of God is forever uttering Itself, and when He utters His voice, the earth melts. If we go to God in grief, the message that will come to us will interpret itself as comfort. If we go to God in lack, probably ravens will appear bringing food, or the birds will sit on our head, or fish will jump out of the sea into our boat, or somebody will come to our door with a basket full of food or dollar bills.
Whatever form it takes will merely be our interpretation of the word of God as it comes into our individual experience. One person will tune in and find that a lump has disappeared; another that a fever has subsided; still another one that a stone has dissolved; and someone else that a bone has knit. God is not doing all those various things. God is uttering Itself as the healing Word. When we sit down in our meditation with a broken bone troubling us, it is a broken bone that gets healed; or if it is an upset stomach, that is healed; but do not believe that God is thinking in terms of us and an upset stomach or a broken bone, for that would be foolishness indeed and limitation.
Q: About supply, things, and money, please explain: “Your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of, even before you ask for them.”2
A: This does not literally mean that God knows that we have need of an automobile. If God knew that, I am sure our ancestors would have had automobiles, because their need for them was as great as ours. I’m sure that God knows nothing about our need for wireless telegraphy, because if he did, there is no reason why we shouldn’t have had wireless telegraphy centuries ago. The meaning of “your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask for them” is this: If you will translate that word “Father” into “the divine consciousness of me, my inner consciousness,” you will understand then, that as the Father—that is, the universal,
divine, spiritual Consciousness—becomes individualized as my individual consciousness, It is the substance of all form. It is the substance of all form.
Therefore, the substance of all necessary to my life from the cradle to the grave is embodied within my consciousness. And in the realization of this—“opening out a way for the imprisoned splendor to escape”—this Spirit, or spiritual consciousness, flows into my outer experience, and because of our conditioning, it appears as the form needed at the moment. It is I, Joel, who condition this flowing substance. In other words, if I am standing at the Red Sea and my need is to get across, my very own divine, spiritual consciousness is the substance of all that is necessary to get me across. But it is I who am knowing, “This sea must open,” or “I must get on the other side,” and this consciousness flows as that particular form. It is I, perhaps, who know it is meal time, and therefore this substance appears outwardly as cakes baked on the stones, or the ravens bringing food, or the poor widow sharing.
It is not that God knows my need for food or an automobile. It is that God is my consciousness, and my consciousness is the substance of all form. And had I needed transportation in the last century, it would have come forth probably as a horse, or a horse and carriage, or a horse and sleigh. But in this century it doesn’t come forth that way. It comes forth as an automobile or a seat on an airplane. The consciousness is the same. The form it assumes is the conditioning which I bring to the divine substance.
1 This excerpt is from Chapter 1, “The New Life by Grace,” in the book Our Spiritual Resources. It is posted with kind permission from Acropolis Books and the Estate of Joel Goldsmith, which holds the copyright on the books.
2 This excerpt is from Recording 400A: 1961 San Diego Special Class, “The Essence of The Infinite Way.” It is posted with kind permission from the Estate of Joel Goldsmith, which holds the copy protection on the recorded classes and the copyright on the transcripts. The full transcript of this recording is available from The Infinite Way Office website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.