Are you used to getting things fast? These days a wide variety of goods and services are at the end of our fingertips and the click of a mouse. We’re not used to waiting for things. To wait requires patience. In fact, the subject of this Lesson implies the need for patience. Probation means: “the act of proving; trial; examination; any proceeding designed to ascertain truth” (Student’s Reference Dictionary). How does this apply to prayer? In Christian Science there is an expectation of quick healing, and if things take more time than we expected we can be tempted to get frustrated and discouraged. None-the-less, we persevere because we have hope. Our hope isn’t that eventually time will allow the body to heal itself, nor in the latest scientific discoveries. Our hope is fueled by knowing that we are in the process of ascertaining the truth about ourselves as children of God. Like the psalmist in the Golden Text, our “expectation is from him” (Ps 62:5).

Throughout the Bible we have sterling examples of magnifying the good. Even in the midst of the deepest challenges, believers look whole-heartedly to God. The Responsive Reading fleshes out the understanding that no matter where we are—or think we are—no matter how difficult the circumstance, we are always guided, cared for, and protected by God. Note that the psalmist isn’t blindly ignoring challenges. He notices them, but he’s neither distracted nor consumed by them. Confident that everything that befalls him works for good in his experience, the psalmist welcomes correction of any wayward thoughts. His approach is effective because, as this Lesson points out, only the good is real. Paul finishes with the strong conviction “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).