God's protection--the action of divine law

ON milk cartons, on supermarket and roadside posters, over television and through newspapers, we see and hear the stark fact that children are missing. You and I are being asked to help identify them. Do we have recourse to a dependable, living power that protects and saves lives? Indeed we do! The Bible is packed with proofs that God can heal and restore when we pray to Him, following the example of Christ Jesus. The Master's prayers were anchored in the spiritual fact that God is the Father of all and that His care for His children never lapses. John records Jesus' words ``Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always . . . . ''1

We have every right to turn to God as Jesus did. But we must adopt the same expectancy of good. Prayer becomes effective only as we recognize and acknowledge that God is All, that He is constant, unchanging Love.

Christian Science amplifies our understanding of God immensely. In its textbook Mary Baker Eddy2 writes: ``God is infinite, therefore ever present, and there is no other power nor presence. Hence the spirituality of the universe is the only fact of creation.'' 3

Since God is Spirit, and infinite good, His creation, including man, is spiritual and only good. Appearances contradict this absolute truth. Yet when we honor it as truth, understand it to be truth, it acts as divine law, supreme over every circumstance that would deny God's allness, and we're able to prove its potency and practicality.

We each can humbly turn to our Father, God, for help if we're faced with a family crisis. Step one is to become so conscious of God's love that fear is ruled out of thought. Trusting God's care for us becomes more and more natural as we understand that God is perfect, all-knowing Mind. Because pure Mind can't possibly know fear, it's impossible for Mind's idea, man, to be afraid. So wisdom, peace, stability, and unerring direction are as natural to man as they are to God. The Psalmist depicts God's universal control this way: ``The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.'' 4

It's reassuring to know that the wisdom inherent in divine Mind is known and expressed ``to all generations.'' Is this just escapism or wishful thinking? No, it's practical, healing truth. This spiritual fact comforted and strengthened a grandmother when she was told that her granddaughter was missing and that the proper authorities had been notified. She immediately asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray about the situation. Together, they expectantly trusted in God's allness and love. They acknowledged the spiritual truth that divine Mind constantly directs its idea, man, so that man can neither act out, nor be subject to, evil motives, sensuality, or abuse. Fear diminished as they realized that a loving Father never deserts His children, is never off guard, never powerless to maintain His dominion.

During the waiting period the grandmother confidently and firmly held to the truth of God's universal control. She put out of thought any temptation to doubt. This prayer brought a lovely sense of God's plan for continuing harmony. Three days after her disappearance the young girl was found safe and was brought home.

Was this just luck? No, it was the result of the loving efforts of many people, and it was the result of prayer. The prayer that is based on understanding rather than on blind faith, that includes realizing what is actually true of God and man, reveals that divine protection is God's gift to all His creation. As God's spiritual reflection, man enjoys perpetual safety. We discover this spiritual security and rightfully claim it for ourselves and all mankind when we acknowledge that God's protection acts as a scientifically provable law.

1 John 11:41, 42. 2 The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 471. 4 Psalms 33:11. DAILY BIBLE VERSE The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us. Isaiah 33:22