Tuning In to God
Are you feeling troubled? Why don't you tune in right now to God? The Bible assures us: "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways" (Ps. 91:10, 11).
All around us are invisible television and radio signals that we can't perceive with the five physical senses. It takes a receiver to translate them into tangible sights and sounds. And of course we have to turn the receiver on to see and hear them.
The same is true with the things of God. He is "broadcasting" the truth to us unceasingly. But we don't see or hear it physically. It's through spiritual sense that we receive God's communication. Spiritual sense is an inherent awareness we all have that God is everpresent; that His influence for good is alive in human consciousness. Spiritual sense tunes our thinking to God's comforting and uplifting messages. Unlike a radio or TV, it's something we have within us.
Tuning in to God is what prayer is about. It often takes active listening. The kind the Apostle Paul spoke of when he essentially defined the Christian as one who may be found "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Cor. 10:5). The Christian Science textbook describes Christ as "the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error" (Mary Baker Eddy, "Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures," Pg. 583).
The transforming power of the Christ is omnipotent and without delay. It is able to bring about remarkable changes - healing - in every aspect of human experience. Evil, fear, despair, envy, hate, trauma, lust, sickness, disease, death - these are not Godlike. They are not realities; they are false beliefs ("imaginations"), which oppose God's power and goodness.
Anything opposing God - anything evil - has only imaginary power. Devil is described in Science and Health as "the lust of the flesh, which saith: 'I am life and intelligence in matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, - a wicked mind ....' " (Pg. 584).
Here's an example of how tuning in to God's messages helped me in a practical way when I felt troubled and helpless. I had left town for a long weekend. The September weather had been dry, hot, and still, and I'd left the windows of my one-bedroom apartment in their normal position - completely up. On a desk three feet away from one of the windows sat my computer, so vital to my work. Important documents, books, and other items were very close to the other windows. Several books, in fact, sat on one of the windowsills.
You can imagine how I felt at my destination, 350 miles away, on learning that a hurricane was expected to hit my town over the weekend. At first I reacted with fear and discouragement, as well as with a healthy dose of self-condemnation - how could I have acted so stupidly as to leave the windows up?
But then I chose to listen to God instead of to those troubling thoughts. I decided that while I could not be physically present at my apartment, I could be wise enough to pray about it. I could know that my sense of home is in God, is never outside me, and is never in danger or threatened. While I couldn't control the hurricane of nature, I could certainly control the hurricane of my own thinking. I could refuse thoughts of fear, gloom, or worry. Even in this situation, prayer to understand God's law at work allowed me to expect to see proof of God's control. I felt at peace.
When I returned home, there was evidence outside that there had been a hurricane. But entering my apartment, I saw a different picture. Nothing was wet. Nothing had been damaged. I was delighted. I felt I had seen the power of prayer.
I've had other proofs of God's healing power in my life - of physical, financial, family, and career troubles all resolved. You, too, can tune in to God at any hour of the day or night, hear His promise of good, and see evidence of it.
The Christian Science Journal, a monthly magazine, contains in-depth articles on Christian Science.
