Protection From Harm

WHEN we read about crimes, disasters, disease, and other ills, we may wonder about our immunity from unforeseen harm. But we do have protection. When we make it a practice to listen to God as we go about our daily business, spiritual intuition and foresight keep us on a safe path.

God is all-knowing Mind. If anything needs to be understood about the past, present, or future to prevent harm from happening, listening to God will show it to us. Our job is to stay alert and pay attention to what He is telling us in order to avail ourselves of His unerring direction. God is the only source, and He creates only good. So as we faithfully listen for His guidance, we move forward with confidence and the assurance that all is well.

There is an account in the Old Testament of the king of Syria going to war against Israel. Every time the king of Syria plots a surprise attack on the Israelites, the Bible tells us in Second Kings, Elisha the prophet discerns the plan in thought and sends warning to the king of Israel. Consequently, every attempt of the Syrians to defeat the Israelites fails.

Elisha had no special outward advantage to know what the Syrians were planning. But he was very close to God--so close that the Bible describes him as ''the man of God'' (II Kings 6:9). His spiritual-mindedness enabled him to detect the impending danger, and his keen mental discernment enabled him to take appropriate steps to prevent bad from happening.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes about the ability to foresee events spiritually. She says, ''It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future.

''Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired,--yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind'' (p. 84).

God, being wholly good, has no knowledge of evil. But this doesn't keep Him from preventing and destroying evil. Light has nothing in common with the dark, and yet, by virtue of its own brightness and radiance, undeniably has the ability to wipe it out. And when we understand the reality of God's omnipresence, we can see and prove that evil has never been real. For as Christ Jesus said of us, God's children, ''Ye are the light of the world'' (Matthew 5:14).

Strengthening our understanding of God as the certain source of good eliminates from our lives, to a growing degree, the possibility of accident or misfortune. The more confident we are of God's care, the more spiritual foresight we'll find ourselves in possession of. We'll intuitively know how to act in a way that prevents accidents from occurring.

Our sincere trust in God necessarily eliminates any trust in chance. We wouldn't, for example, think in terms of looking for good by playing the lottery or pinning hopes to a sweepstakes entry. And we don't have to ''beat'' any odds to see ourselves well taken care of by God. God's creation--the only reality there is--is wholly and permanently good. We don't have to expect that many things will go wrong before something goes right. We all have much to learn before perfection is consistently demonstrated. But we should remember that perfection is what is actually true, and expect from the start that things will work out well. Less belief in human fallibility and more trust in God's infallibility prevents much suffering.

When we are willing to follow the plan outlined by God, life's events are an unfoldment of predictable good. We are not pawns of mortal fate thrown about by forces beyond control. God would have only good for us. The closer our thought is to God, the more we feel His harmonious control in our lives--and the more we reflect the spiritual light that proves evil to be unreal and powerless. Prayer and study each day help keep us obedient to God's faultless direction. The effort expended to stay spiritually alert to God's shepherding care is more than compensated for by the unwanted calamities we'll never experience, and that's good for everyone!