Finding the Bible's Healing Light
One night I couldn't get to sleep. I was angry and resentful toward someone I cared about, who appeared oblivious of my feelings. It was clear to me that I needed to pray for myself.
I knew from previous experience that Christian healing - healing through prayer - is as powerful in today's difficult situations as it was in Bible times. My prayers in time of need are prayers of confidence that I will receive healing, through a spiritual understanding of biblical truths.
What came to me in this time of need were the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm. At first I simply repeated them over and over, in an attempt to wring some meaning from them. But gradually, as my thoughts grew calmer, I received a comforting message from this verse: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies."
The message was that right where my "enemies" - the negative thoughts that had such a hold on me - seemed to be, right there was a "table," an understanding, already prepared for me that was loaded with an abundance of good from God.
With assurance, I considered one by one many of the qualities of good that cannot be separated from God's children. Qualities such as compassion, loyalty, generosity, care, and joy came to thought. I accepted the fact that these qualities belonged not only to me but to my loved one, indeed to us all, as the very reflection of God. I felt a peaceful calm. My next meeting with that person was happy and free. And not long after, I even received an apology.
The healing message I had received was in accord with the teaching of Christ Jesus. From my study of the Bible, in conjunction with "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (the Christian Science textbook), I have come to see that God is good, establishing only good for His children. You can read on Page 200, "The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike." This is one of many statements from that 700-page book by Mary Baker Eddy that elucidate what the author's intensive study of the Bible revealed to her.
The truth of the Bible heals physically, too. Once when our oldest son was still quite small, he was suffering from an earache. As I held him in my arms in a rocking chair, praying, I recalled the story of Daniel in the lions' den (see Dan., Chap. 6). This was in the "Christian Science Quarterly" Bible Lesson for that week, which I had been reading. The weekly Lessons, discussing a variety of topics, are made up of references from the Bible and Science and Health. I thought of how Daniel faced the strong possibility of being attacked by hungry lions when he was thrown into their den. And also, likely, the temptation to feel resentment and anger toward the king who put him there - whom Daniel had faithfully served. It suddenly occurred to me that Daniel's protection from harm lay in his total reliance on God. This apparently prevented him from entertaining fearful, doubtful, or resentful thoughts. The prayers of Daniel must have touched his would-be destroyers, the lions, as well. Violence has no place in God's creation.
In my prayer, I saw that I could not view my son as any less perfect than God had created him. Like Daniel, I had an opportunity to rely on God and reject evidence of any power other than God's all-wise, all-loving, all-good power. As I held steadfastly to the spiritual truths that came to me through the lesson of Daniel, my son stopped crying and slid off my lap to play. He was healed.
The timeless Word of God, found in the Bible, has given me a sound basis from which to pray for solutions to any problem. Prayer involves reasoning correctly, and produces harmonious results in human lives. It holds healing for each one of us in our hours of need. We can turn to God unreservedly for the answers we seek.
