Article September 16, 1950 Issue

LIGHT IN THE VALLEY

CARL J. WELZ

"YEA, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me" (Ps. 23:4). What comfort these words contain! And through Christian Science we find that the reason for this comfort lies in the fact that the Psalmist propounded a spiritual truth, the comprehension of which enables us to eliminate fear and to demonstrate dominion over adversity of every name and nature. God is present with us, and God is infinite, omnipotent, eternal good. The valley of the shadow of death is but the belief that good is present in finite, destructible, decaying matter and that with the collapse of material structure, good disappears, leaving only the supposed absence of good, named evil. Though our human experience may take us through many phases of this false belief, there is nothing to fear, for God, the source of all good, is ever present, and His presence made known dispels the shadow.

Isaiah was assured of the light which would come, and prophesied (9:2), "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." Christ Jesus came and proclaimed himself "the light of the world" (John 8: 12), setting for mankind the supreme example of living which reveals the truth and destroys the deceptive belief of good in matter. He told his disciples that they were "the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14) and taught them to let their light shine that men might feel its beneficence and glorify the one good, which is God. Later, the Apostle Paul wrote to the faithful Christians at Ephesus (Eph. 5:8), "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light."

Christian Science repeats this command to the faithful today. It reveals man's true nature as the reflection of God, and it demands of its students that they live no longer in subservience to the belief of good in matter, but so live in the truth that they reflect and show forth the light of God's ever-presence, as Jesus did.

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