`I am with thee'

FROM individual and family struggles to complex global issues,the challenges facing humanity in these closing years of the twentieth century are great. And yet, whatever the magnitude of the problems in our lives or in our world, we can take heart. God is with us. He hasn't left us to fend for ourselves the best we can, for He treasures each one of us. We are never without His help, ever. The Bible promises, ``The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.''1 We can always turn to the Scriptures and gain the blessed reassurance of God's presence in our midst. (Here are a few more of those reassurances: Isaiah 41:10,13; Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalms 46:1-7.)

Sometimes it can seem as though God were very far away from us. We may feel totally alone in a dark moment of fear, for example. Everything around us may lead to the conclusion that God is absent for one reason or another. But the wonderful thing is, He is never absent for a moment.He couldn't be, since He is omnipresent Spirit and Love. Man is not estranged from Deity and ``on his own.'' He coexists with God, who has promised, ``I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.''2 The eternal spiritual reality, demonstrated by Christ Jesus, is that God and man are forever inseparable.

The Christ, the divine power expressed in Jesus' healing works, is referred to in the Bible as ``Immanuel,'' or ``God with us.'' Christian Science brings to humanity the good news that our Saviour, the Christ, is always here. The Christ-power didn't disappear from earth with Jesus' ascension. Christ, Truth, is always present in human consciousness to obliterate the darkened sense of life without God and to bring healing. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes of the divine Principle of Jesus' life and works: ``The I AM was neither buried nor resurrected. The Way, the Truth, and the Life were never absent for a moment. This trinity of Love lives and reigns forever.''3

The Christ is always at hand to deliver us from the deception of alienation from God and to restore the consciousness of our indestructible relationship to Him. Once I was healed quickly of a physical discomfort after remembering the Biblical words ``I am with thee'' and then realizing that if God was with me, suffering was not with me. Both couldn't be present in the same place. At that moment I felt the presence of Christ, a tangible awareness of man's pure spiritual being in God, and the healing came. It was a simple but memorable proof of how an understanding of God's presence can make a healing difference in human experience.

Suppose you're going through a tough time, and you'd like to believe that God is with you, yet you don't really feel it and are still pretty worried about how things will turn out. This is the very time to continue to acknowledge in prayer God's presence with you until you break through to peaceful certainty. Mentally challenge the false sense of divine Love's absence.

Turning to God in humility and honesty, hungering and thirsting to know Him better, you won't be left with a cold metaphysical abstraction. You will gain the sweet certainty of His tender, powerful presence in your life. Fear will melt away. Healing will follow. You will know you are not alone. You will find yourself feeling much like Jacob when he said, ``Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.''4

1Isaiah 54:10. 2Hebrews 13:5. 3Unity of Good, p. 63. 4Genesis 28:16.

You can find more articles about spiritual healing in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 1:8