Evil Is Powerless
MANY people are comforted by the certainty that God can be turned to in any kind of trouble. We feel a quiet conviction that by turning to God in prayer we will find guidance, support, and healing. Accepting that evil is without power, however, may not come as naturally to us. Even when we have experienced many evidences of God's goodness, evil may still appear to be real and threatening. But can both good and evil be powerful? No! If God is good and has all power as the Bible teaches, then, as radical as this seems, evil does not have power.
The Bible provides many illustrations of evil's powerlessness. In the book of Daniel, for example, there are two outstanding accounts of good triumphing over evil. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were ordered to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden idol or be cast into the middle of a fiery furnace. These three courageous men refused to bow down to any other than the one God, and they were thrown into the fire. But they were not harmed by the fire. They were able to come out of the furnace without, the Bible tells us, even ``the smell of fire'' on them (3:27).
Daniel himself was also put into an extremely dangerous situation. It appeared to all present that Daniel was doomed to a violent death when he was put into a den of lions. And although he was there all night, the lions did not harm him (see chap. 6).
You may be thinking to yourself, ``Well, those were miracles! They don't have any bearing on my life today.'' But they do! Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Christian Science Church, discovered that there is a spiritual law underlying the examples of protection and healing found in the Bible. It's the same law that the works of Christ Jesus were founded on--the law of God--and it applies to all of His children. Mrs. Eddy writes in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: ``God is infinite, therefore ever present, and there is no other power nor presence'' (p. 471). God's law is still operating today, as it did in Bible times. Our own trust in God's goodness and power can outweigh fear or doubt as it did for Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel; and we too can find protection and healing.
One morning, on my way to work, I had an opportunity to prove this. Because I had to be at work quite early, I normally left my apartment before 5 a.m. Very few people are out at that time of the morning, and it is still quite dark. On this particular day, as I walked toward the bus station, I heard someone behind me. I stepped aside to let the person pass. But in the next instant his arms were around me, his hand over my mouth. He whispered, ``Come with me. I have a gun.'' Although no specific words came to thought at that moment, I strongly felt my right to be safe in God's care. I remember thinking to myself, ``Nothing is going to happen here.'' I was able to break free and run to the bus station unharmed.
For a time I was afraid something like this might happen again. I continued to pray, however, until I became convinced that the law of God was in operation, that it is always in operation everywhere. I stopped being afraid. When we obey God's law, and affirm the allness of His goodness and power, no matter what the situation confronting us we'll be safe in His care. Putting our whole trust in God, we can say with the Psalmist: ``Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God'' (20:6,7).
