Angels awaken us to divine provision

The office where I worked when I was a relatively new student of Christian Science was near a Christian Science Reading Room. I spent most of my lunch hours in its healing atmosphere, reading the weekly Bible Lessons and the Christian Science periodicals. Most comforting to me were accounts of how God meets human needs.

I was especially encouraged by the Bible story of Abraham and Sarah, where they were given a promise that Sarah would have a son despite her advanced age (see Genesis 18:1-16). Though Sarah laughed in disbelief, the Lord replied, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” I see this message from God as what the Bible refers to as an angel.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, “When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 306). This gave me a glimpse of what angels truly are – spiritual messages or thoughts from God that guide and sustain us. Because God is their source, angels or spiritual intuitions are available to everyone, regardless of the era, or one’s education, background, or location.

It is our Father-Mother God’s nature as divine Love to provide Her family with shelter, safety, and comfort, as well as fulfilling opportunities. Receiving the messages that God imparts, we become conscious of supply, employment, suitable friendship – whatever is our need at the time.

My greatest need during those early days in Science was for employment and adequate provision for my family. That period of deep study in the Reading Room, learning to listen to God’s angels, ultimately led me to relocate my family 1,800 miles away to fill a slot in a federal government upward mobility training program. This proved to be a great blessing that furnished many opportunities for spiritual and professional growth.

I am still learning how God’s angels guide us and meet our needs. I’ve been shown many times that the lack and limitations confronting people stem from a false view of life as based in matter and subject to limiting material laws. Christian Science teaches that God created and maintains man and the universe spiritually, not materially. An understanding of this divine fact removes fear by revealing that God alone is man’s source of intelligence, opportunities, freedom, harmony, and bliss.

As we learn to rely on the law of Love, we are able to prove that these blessings belong to each of us equally, regardless of our human history, culture, or economic situation. Entertaining angel messages lifts our thought to expect unlimited possibilities.

In Christian Science we learn that demand and supply are one, and God governs both, leaving no lack or imbalance. The Bible tells us that when Israel’s army was journeying through a wilderness to fight a battle, there was no water, and the prophet Elisha said, “Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water.” The account continues, “And it came to pass in the morning ... that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water” (II Kings 3:16, 17, 20).

Whenever we seem to lack something, what we’re facing is really a false perception. The remedy is to understand that God, infinite Mind, is already pouring forth whatever ideas we need in abundance, and that true substance is spiritual and inexhaustible. As Miscellaneous Writings states, “God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies” (p. 307).

I am finding that if we are in debt, for example, we can know that what we actually owe is the acknowledgment that we possess all good as the reflection of divine Mind. The more we express of a divine quality – such as intelligence, kindness, or integrity – the more we have of it. But fear, envy, and resentment never paid a debt.

Listening for Love’s ideas, we will have all we need. And we can never use up the supply of divine thoughts or angels. God is always providing them for us today, as surely as He did for Abraham and Sarah many centuries ago.

Adapted from an article published in the August 2023 issue of The Christian Science Journal.