Where Safety Lies
What can people do in the face of sudden and destructive events such as bombings, plane crashes, and storms? The best efforts of governments and engineers, scientists and security forces, are needed. Then, there is something that each person can do.
Undertaking to pray is of most value. As a Christian Scientist, I strive to make my own effective contribution to safety, through prayer.
During my military service in the Second World War, there were times when assignments placed me in precarious situations, including one from which my superiors expected me not to return. Another time my associates feared my position had been destroyed. Yet I was not harmed in any of these situations, for which I am grateful.
Through my study of Christian Science, I had been learning to turn to God at such times for encouragement and safety. I realized that I was fully protected in an apparently dangerous assignment, if that was my right place -- that is, a place where I was doing God's will. If an assignment put me where I could accomplish a good mission, it was reasonable to accept it as my right place for that time.
I had learned that since God is everywhere, I could not go outside of His presence. A promise from the book of Psalms was familiar to me, assuring me that God is "a very present help in trouble" (46:1). These did appear to be troubling times. But I could understand that God, including His love and His protection, is ever present, because an infinite God can never be absent. I frequently reminded myself that no place could be safer than where I was, since God must always be everywhere.
When you read and/or hear of the life-threatening conditions someone faces, it is such a help to understand God as the source of safety and security. Both the Bible and the teachings of Christian Science show that our safety rests on spiritual terms. Actual safety is in a deep-rooted confidence in what is spiritual -- what is of God. Trust is dependable when it stems from an understanding of the omnipotent, as well as of the omnipresent, nature of God.
St. Paul spoke to this when he said to the church at Philippi, "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). The "day of Jesus Christ" is for you and me whenever we reach the point of not doubting, but of understanding, what Jesus taught and proved: that the power of God to save and heal and maintain all creation is indisputable. One's safety is in a unity with God and involves his or her perfect expression of Him. The image and likeness of God is how man is depicted in the first chapter of Genesis (see 1:26, 27). We are that image. God is good alone; therefore we, His image, reflect good alone.
Amid danger, our thoughts and actions will keep us and others safe when we come to affirm, to acknowledge, that God's government of the universe and of man must be in accordance with His own nature as the all-creative, good divine Mind.
Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science in thorough study of the Bible, especially the life of Jesus. Her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures explains this Science fully. On page 469 is this statement: "The exterminator of error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind-called devil or evil -- is not Mind, is not Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality. . . . We bury the sense of infinitude, when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a place in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all space is filled with God."
Throughout his ministry, Jesus showed confidence in God. He sought to impress this priceless trust with which he healed upon his followers, including his followers today. As your awareness that you coexist with your creator grows, so does your trust. While not ignoring trouble, you refuse to be scared by it, because you know it is not of God and has no actual power. This knowing alters human experiences for the better. It benefits all people. God's goodness and love leave no one unprotected.
