What’s with “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity?” Does God hold off helping the suffering mortal until his suffering is extreme? I think not.
In his relationship to God, mortal man is his own worst enemy. He might espouse faith but, because he cannot touch and feel God, his trust is skin-deep, and he rather puts his trust in the ways of the world to maintain his well-being. When a problem comes along, he turns to all those ways to solve them, perhaps asking God for help, but certainly not counting on it. His primary reliance is on what he can see, hear, etc., and so he is reluctant to actually have faith in his invisible God. As the Bible states it, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
However, when a problem hits that is so shocking and so evidently hopeless…
In my own experience, on a business trip in Birmingham, Alabama, in my hotel room I found myself so sick I could stand for only a few seconds at a time, chest extremely congested, thick, greenish phlegm. After a horrible, sleepless night, I was supposed to fly home to New Jersey, with a connecting flight in Atlanta, right in the middle of the Christmas rush! It seemed impossible. In my extremity, I phoned someone who had helped me before through prayer. He calmly listened to my plight, reassured me that God loved me and would not forsake me. He apparently was “in the zone,” for I immediately felt a tremendous peace. I fell asleep for 10 minutes, a very sweet sleep I might add, and then managed to get out to the waiting airport limo. The airports and planes were packed, not conducive to recovery at all, but by the time I walked to my car at the Newark airport, I found myself completely free of any congestion and fever. It was like I was walking on air - thrilled to witness the impossible. There was (and is) no doubt in my mind that it was the grace of God, ushered in by the man of God who had helped me over the phone.
Yes, in my extremity I was desperate. My underlying reluctance to trust the invisible God vanished. This receptive state was God’s opportunity, and the Love poured in. Was God withholding until I was receptive?
The following excerpts, from the chapter on Prayer in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, address this.
“God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of anything He does not already comprehend? Do we expect to change perfection? Shall we plead for more at the open fount, which is pouring forth more than we accept?… Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His blessing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.”
I take "avail ourselves" to mean, get our ego, our pride, out of the way, and acknowledge our utter helplessness without Him. Better to cultivate this by engaging in a program of self-immolation, of sacrificing our selfish ways, than waiting for extremities!