Humanity's future, many experts argue, hinges on whether population growth will outstrip earth's resources. An in-depth report titled "World Population" in The Christian Science Monitor observed, "Without major technological breakthroughs and changes in patterns of consumption, even the most optimistic population-growth projections are likely to be accompanied by increases in poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation" (July 8, 1992). These distressing conditions already exist in many parts of the world.

Our response to threats to humanity's well-being is immeasurably strengthened by prayer. Indeed, heartfelt and searching prayer is itself a resource. It opens our thought to a greater recognition of God's presence and power to bless mankind.

The Bible is an obvious starting point in learning about God's care. In the desolate wilderness, Moses and the children of Israel found water in a rock. They had fresh food daily—manna—which cost them no other effort than to gather obediently only what they needed for that day. During forty years, their clothes didn't wear out and their feet didn't swell.

During a severe drought, the Bible records that God commanded ravens to bring food to Elijah the prophet. Later, God guided the prophet to another surprising source for sustenance—a destitute widow. Over many days her meager food supply did not run short.

Christ Jesus fed thousands with only a few fishes and loaves of bread. So abundant were the provisions that there were baskets of leftovers after everyone had eaten.

Perhaps, we may feel, grave imbalances in supply and demand can be met only through such "miracles." But actually, wouldn't random and inexplicable provisions of care be inconsistent with God's nature? The Bible tells us that God is infinite Love, so His supply must be universal. It assures us that it's natural for us to understand Him. His acts, then, can't truly be shrouded in mystery.

Clearly, identifying God correctly is essential to understanding Him. God is Spirit, Christ Jesus taught. So it follows that interpreting events from the standpoint of matter doesn't explain God. But reasoning and praying from the standpoint of Spirit's allness and of man's spiritual likeness to God expands our understanding of reality. It helps us glimpse man as God's very expression, inseparable from all that God is and provides. It shows us that signs of God's limitless care aren't really miraculous at all; they are the natural fulfillment of His law of omnipotent good.

Matter's aggressive pictures insist, however, that far from being the loved child of God, man is instead a mortal with a material origin. That he can be victimized by endless economic or social turmoil. That poverty is a relentless fact of being. That little can be done about scarcity of resources.

Prayer that effectively helps to counter these mesmeric lies about God, man, and the universe is silent communion with God, turning us completely away from the outward picture, no matter how immovable it seems to be. This radical turning away doesn't express a cold indifference to humanity's troubles or, on the other hand, a kind of wishful thinking. It is neither dangerous nor naive. Rather, it's an anchoring of thought in the safe harbor of divine reality, where we can clearly discern the truth that forwards healing.

Here we see that because Spirit is the one cause and only creator, the universe, including man, is wholly spiritual. The universe fully expresses the supremely good nature of its Maker. Thus it is blessed with divine Principle's government, perfectly controlling all. It is provided with the eternal vitality of Life. All-knowing Mind foresees its infinite spiritual development, and measureless Love sustains it. Evil has no foothold in this universe.

This ever-present, spiritual universe is man's true and only home. And the inhabitant of this universe is not a mortal but the immortal offspring of the one perfect God. He is not a victim but is the treasured and protected likeness of Spirit. He is governed only by Love's law of good.

As we vigorously enlarge our understanding of divine reality, this can't help embracing those in need. It can't help shedding light on what seem to be intractable problems—from controlling population to finding new sources of provision. As Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "The 'still, small voice' of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, 'as when a lion roareth.' It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear."

The Bible shows that in reality man is inseparable from Spirit's resources. Obedience to Spirit's commands—namely, to worship one God and to love our neighbor as ourselves—is essential in bringing Spirit's care for man to light. As we devote our thought and lives to this obedience, we are making a difference in our world. We're building a secure foundation for our expectation of humanity's progress, and we're supporting that progress—which is a God-given right—in a powerful way.

No matter how grievous the threats to earth's billions appear to be, to spiritual sense these challenges represent an opportunity, through prayer, to help bring solutions to light. Guided by spiritual sense, we recognize and accept the urgent demand to grow in our understanding of God's love for His universal family, and of His all-powerful care.

Certainly the serious questions of overpopulation and lack seem sometimes to be more than we can cope with. And simplistic answers offer scant help. But looking to God for solutions is not simplistic. God is the greatest power—the only power there is. We can steadfastly turn to Him through prayer. Then we'll be giving up, at least in a degree, the preconception imposed by worldly views that good is limited. We'll more fully accept that God's unbounded love guides and sustains all His children.