Divine justice that heals

It was interesting to learn that Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year and a top lookup in 2018 was “justice.” That was probably because the concept of justice has been front and center in debates and issues around the world. Genuine justice plays such a key role in maintaining a fair and functioning society.

But justice is an important concept in our individual experiences too. It can help bring us healing when we think about justice in a spiritual context. For instance, from what I’ve learned through my study of Christian Science, a spiritual sense of justice includes the idea that whatever suffering we might face isn’t just or right, because it isn’t in accord with God, whom the Bible describes as good (see, for example, Psalms 143:10).

This idea was instrumental in a rapid recovery I experienced recently from a hurt muscle in my upper left arm. I have often experienced the healing power of prayer, so that’s how I approached this situation. But at first I prayed about it only intermittently, when I most felt the discomfort.

This had been going on for about a week or so when, one day while swimming – something I like to do often – I decided to pray with greater dedication. My prayers included thinking about the concept of justice and what it means in the context of my relation to God. From the Bible, I understand that God, good, is the true Parent of each of us, and we are His spiritual offspring. And from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” a book by Mary Baker Eddy that highlights the spiritual and healing significance of the Bible texts, I understand our true identity is not a physical, suffering body. Rather, it is spiritual – the image and likeness of God and thus immortal, perfect, harmonious, completely good.

Therefore, how could it be any part of God’s all-embracing justice that I suffer with this painful condition? It came to me that it was natural for my arms to move harmoniously because true movement originates in God, Spirit, not matter. As the Bible states in reference to God, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This harmonious movement is not dependent on material conditions. As Science and Health says: “matter can make no conditions for man” (p. 120).

Ultimately, it is our divine right to feel assured of God’s divine justice, which establishes and maintains our wholeness. With this understanding, we can expect to experience freedom from limiting conditions or injuries. I knew that prayer based on an acknowledgment of my true, spiritual identity could bring about physical healing.

Then, as I considered these ideas, I had an overwhelming sense that God’s justice was surrounding me, so to speak, like the water in the pool. I started to swim another lap. Just before I reached the other side, I felt a change in my arm. I started to swim again and realized the irritation and pain were completely gone. The power of God’s divine justice had been brought to bear, and the hurt muscle was healed so completely it was as if the injury had never been – “as a dream of a night vision,” in the words of the Bible (Isaiah 29:7).

In a swimming pool, at work, or wherever we may be, prayers acknowledging, and accepting, the truth of our God-given heritage of divine justice can have a healing impact in our lives, expressed in health and harmony.