Safety--it has a timeless Principle
THE need for safety takes on different dimensions in different ages. But the underlying Principle of safety is timeless and always present. This Principle is eternal, and it's the Principle of all real being--namely, God. Principle may seem an unusual term to apply to God, but it's really quite natural. Because God is literally everywhere, without limits of any kind, God can't simply be a glorified human being. He must be, and is, the infinite Principle that undergirds all existence. God as divine Principle is the supreme Lawgiver. All real law emanates from Him. Through divine law God upholds all that is good, including man, His image. God is also infinite Life and Love, the Father-Mother of all, who knows each of His offspring and tenderly cares for each one. Since God is infinite, there is no locality or situation where He is not present. ``Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?'' asked the Psalmist. ``If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.''1
Even now you and I are safe in the arms of omnipotence. Most of the time, though, we absorb what the eyes, ears, and other senses tell us, and then we reason from the basis of this material evidence. So our safety appears to rest on a human rather than a divine foundation. Reasoning from a material basis, though, isn't the process by which we comprehend God. In fact it blinds us to His presence and power. God is Spirit, not matter, and His protecting power is purely spiritual. So we need spiritual sense in order to understand God and prove His protection.
Prayer is the primary means by which we cultivate spiritual sense. Prayer reverses worldly perceptions and turns us to spiritual truth. In prayer we put our spiritual conviction into practice by mentally affirming the facts of God and man and denying the evidence that would seem to contradict divine reality.
Man is not the frail object of chance or pawn of violence that he appears to be. Man was created spiritually and is the expression, or image, of Spirit, of divine Principle. This is our actual selfhood, which we come to discern more clearly and consistently through prayer.
God doesn't operate through chance, nor does He contain wickedness or imperfections that might throw a cruel monkey wrench into His perfect government of man. The human impulses of hatred and frustration, lapses in judgment, technological failures, and so on, are not expressions of divine Principle. They must of course be dealt with through all appropriate channels, but even as this is being done we all can find protection from evil in its various forms as we understand that evil has no place in God and that we are all under His government. As Paul writes, ``In him we live, and move, and have our being.''2
In addition to prayer, we need to bring our lives into conformity with God's moral and spiritual law. We can't expect to experience His protective control consistently if we act contrary to divine law. Christ Jesus reaffirmed the need for obedience to the Ten Commandments and amplified for us the moral and spiritual demands of divine Love--demands that apply both to our thoughts and to our actions.
In the Christian Science textbook Mary Baker Eddy3 writes, ``Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit,-- the law of divine Love.''4
It's this law of Love that keeps man safe. Being reconciled to God through genuine repentance, reformation, and spiritual perception, we bring our experience under the protection of His law. As Mrs. Eddy writes elsewhere, ``Let us open our affections to the Principle that moves all in harmony,--from the falling of a sparrow to the rolling of a world.''5
This Principle is indeed everywhere-- All. There is no real power opposed to God, and He holds every one of us safe in His omnipotent care.
1Psalms 139:7-10. 2Acts 17:28. 3The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 4Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 19. 5Miscellaneous Writings, p. 174. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Proverbs 29:25
