`In God We Trust' -- Sometimes or Always?

LOOK at any United States coin. The words ``IN GOD WE TRUST'' are engraved on it. Do we pay much attention to this inscription? Do we really trust God? I guess this depends on what we know about God and how close we feel to Him. If we don't know much about God, we couldn't possibly put much trust in Him. Maybe we even fear His judgment and possible condemnation. But when we recognize God as our divine Father who loves us, we realize that we can trust Him and turn to Him in our prayers.

We can learn more about God from the Bible, which tells us that God is Love and is Spirit. The Psalmist reassures us, ``God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.''1

Prayer, in which we acknowledge His nature as infinite Love and come to discern more of our own true nature as the spiritual image of Love, helps us gain a deeper understanding of God's healing presence. Through such prayer we can begin to find healing of fear, lack, disease, sin, as Christ Jesus demonstrated throughout his ministry. The Master healed the sick and the sinful through his trust in God and by his understanding of man as ever at one with God.

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science more than a hundred years ago, perceived the divine law underlying Jesus' healing works. She realized that God, infinite good, could not make man sick or sinful and that sickness and sin are not therefore the stubborn realities they appear to be. She writes, ``The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.''2

Mrs. Eddy's book Science and Health shows that we can always rely on God's help. We can find healing through a better understanding of our spiritual source and nature. Many people have been healed of severe physical problems through careful study of this book.

At the root of Christian Science healing is a clearer perception of God as all-loving and all-acting. We come to realize that divine Love is always caring for all of us; that in a sense every legitimate and worthy activity originates in God and thus is supported by His love. As we discern the truth of spiritual reality, we lose the fear of sickness and evil, and healing begins to take place.

Our confidence is strengthened as we accept God's goodness and love in our prayers, opening our thought to the presence of infinite spiritual perfection. We need a growing willingness to give up the belief in any real power besides God.

We can strive to trust in God in all our activities and at all times. Then spiritual perceptiveness gradually becomes a way of life to us and our families. We treasure the fact that God's help is indeed the most powerful and effective help available. We come to see more vividly why people turn to God for healing, regardless of how severe the problems may seem to be.

To waver in our allegiance to God would be like saying, ``In God we trust, but only as long as things go reasonably well.'' This would degrade prayer to a ceremonial petition, undermining the concept of God's supremacy and the spiritual perfection of His creation, which is basic to healing through prayer.

Trusting God always, especially in difficult times, emerges as a natural response to His divine affection.

1Psalms 46:1. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 227.