In the Christian Science Bible Lesson June 4, 2012 Issue

God preserves us wherever we are

For the lesson titled "God the Preserver of Man" from June 4-10, 2012

Abby Fuller—San Anselmo, California

How far can you get from God? What if you deliberately walk away from the path that God has in mind for you? Exactly; it doesn’t matter how far you walk, run, or swim, God’s right there. This week’s Bible Lesson, titled “God the Preserver of Man,” gives us repeated examples of how God protects, guides, and guards us.

Psalm 139 (citation 2) starts us off with some specifics. If I am in heaven, where God was thought to keep His home, God is there. God is there if I am in hell—Sheol, the legendary place of the dead. If I am in the sky, close to heaven, or in the depths of the sea, a dark, unexplored place where leviathan and other mysterious beasts were thought to live, God is there, too. “God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power” (Science and Health, p. 473, cit. 2). Everywhere we go, God prepares the way.

Jesus’ teachings and works bring light so that people can recognize God’s presence and protection (see John 12:46, cit. 11). Jesus brings the light both metaphorically and literally, helping those whose eyes had not functioned properly and helping those who obstinately would not see the truth. When Jesus healed a blind man outside of Jericho, this man was also transformed. He had needed to beg for food, being unable to work. Now that he could see, he joyfully followed Jesus, giving God the glory (see Luke 18:35–43, cit. 13).