Can We Resist God?
A photograph I have has helped me sort that question out; it is a snapshot of a single flower, blooming brightly where it has broken through a crack in some asphalt. It illustrates to me that the healing power of God breaks through all resistance.
God is good. God reigns supreme. If you and I are tempted, either consciously or unconsciously, to forget God, doubt that His goodness is actual, come under the influence of evil of some kind, we can still feel the cleansing of His love. As we open our hearts to the love of God, you and I are corrected, comforted, redeemed.
Throughout the ages, in what have often been called miracles, we see evidence of God's government in human affairs. Yet God's care for His creation is not miraculous; it is a constant, a given, a law. Jesus Christ, who brought healing and salvation to the world, said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20). The spiritual truth Jesus taught reigns, naturally and forever. Evil, at length, is what comes to an end.
What is actually miraculous - that is, unnatural - is the trouble that so often seems to be able to erase good, to stand in God's stead. But what is opposed to God in nature is a pretender, an ultimate lie. It comes to you and me as it came to the mythical Eve in the garden of Eden - through temptation. It comes as mental suggestion, as insistent thoughts that we must for whatever reason accept, even seek after as necessary knowledge, both good and evil.
This contradicts God's own action, according to the Holy Bible, in which everything He has made is only good (see Gen. 1:31). Eve was specifically told she should accept - know - only good (see Gen. 2:16, 17). When she was deceived, successfully tempted to resist God and know evil, she and her family suffered. Paul the Apostle said to the Galatians, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7). If we believe in evil, we are mocking God. What we will in turn receive is some form of what we're believing.
Evil must ultimately be destroyed, for it cannot overrule God. Why cling to that which is by nature self-destructive?
The perceptions that God is absent at some times - that sickness is incurable, that we can separate ourselves from God through our own misdeeds, do as we please and fail, or fall unwitting victim to evil - are all errors of thought. God is our defense. He has given us the right and the power to resist evil, including sickness and sin. The Christian Science textbook, written by Mary Baker Eddy, states, "Evil is not supreme; good is not helpless; nor are the so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit [God] secondary" ("Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Pg. 207).
Turning to God - that is, turning to good - you can resist evil, heal and be healed, consistently. You can find each moment to be under divine power and governance. Like the disciples of Jesus, you can prove that nothing actually has power to resist, overrule, or ignore God.
The Bible illustrates spiritual qualities of thought that, when cultivated, provide defense against the temptation to do wrong either wittingly or unwittingly. Paul enumerated some of them, saying, "The fruit of the Spirit [of God] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22, 23).
When spiritual truth guides us, we find ourselves under God's shelter, safe, happy, and well. We have the choice to accept or reject evil. Jesus said, "Get thee hence, Satan," when he was tempted (Matt. 4:10). Through resisting the most aggressive forms of evil and steadfastly embodying good thoughts - yielding completely to God - he won victory over death itself.
It's a choice to follow the example of Jesus, refusing to be sinful or to consent to sickness. Making the choice on the grounds that God is Love and does not send or permit sin, sickness, sorrow, or suffering of any kind, we find healing - the proof that we are free.
Can we resist God? We may try sometimes. But ultimately we cannot resist love. We can't pass up healing. We can't hide from good. And God is good.
