THE GOLDEN TEXT introducing this week's Christian Science Bible Lesson on "God the Preserver of Man" charges us to be strong, courageous, unafraid, and upbeat—with the knowledge that God is with us no matter what.

The Responsive Reading from Nehemiah shows why that counsel is possible: "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou has made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all" (9:6). This text is like a foreword to the Lesson, and Isaiah illustrates Nehemiah's profession of faith, beginning with what God said, "My people shall know my name" (52:6). As I worked through the Lesson, the significance of those words blazed out in every section.

To know God's name and nature is to know God as our Preserver. This Lesson shows clearly how God preserved Moses, who gave a religion to the Israelistes; preserved the Israelites to be an example to the nations; and sent and preserved Jesus Christ as our Savior. Because these acts of God are preserved in the Bible and made demonstrable through Science and Health, we, too, can know God as our Preserver.

In ancient cultures knowing the "name" meant knowing the fundamental nature or essence of that to which, or to whom, the name belonged. The people knew God's nature by experiencing how He operated in their midst, on their behalf. In this Lesson, God is expressed as a messenger who will announce peace and salvation (see Isa. 52:7, Responsive Reading); as One to go before them and be their rear guard, as well (verse 12). Though not identified, a servant will be so exalted that he will shut the mouths of kings (verses 13, 15).

The first Lesson citation from Science and Health says: "God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more?" Also, "God is 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;'..." (p.2). The latter point calls to mind how God had saved Moses as a baby and as a young man when he fled from Egypt. God, who is Love, was preserving Moses before Moses had a clue! And He must be doing the same for all of us.

God's nature as Preserver is explained in related passages from Science and Health in the first section. We read that "Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which governs all" (p. 508). That the divine Mind destroys the false intentions of mortal mind (see p.225) and creates and maintains man (see p. 151). That Truth brings liberty because freedom is the nature of Soul, and no power can stand against divine Love (see p. 224). And ongoing discussion of God's action as Mind, Truth, Love, and Soul, continues in Section II and beyond.

Safely out of Egypt, the people accused Moses of leading them into starvation. But God was still with Moses, who said He heard the "murmurings (whinings)" of the people (cit. 6). As Exodus 16 shows, and Science and Health amplifies, God is also Principle, and does not save His people from one peril only to let them perish in another (see cit. 12). In their new experience, the Israelites were just beginning to know God as Principle, as the source of law governing their experience, giving it substance and freedom.

God continued to lead the Israelites under His law. Law is a translation of the Hebrew word torah. It means teaching or instruction, not legalism, and is vividly condensed in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:3-17, cit. 12). Pslam 37 catches the intent of this law: "For the Lord loveth judgment" (verse 28, cit. 10). This judgement, or justice, concerns relationships. The first four commandments apply to our relationship with God. The fifth includes these, and points to the remaining five, which apply to our relationship with others. Science and Health profoundly expresses this concept: "The Christianly scientific man reflects the divine law, thus becoming a law unto himself" (p. 458, cit. 17). When we live in relationship with God and all within His creation, that justice pervades every aspect of our being.

God never stops revealing His nature. John put this so well in his Gospel: "The law [teaching, instruction] was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (1:17, cit. 18). The Ten Commandments reveal God's nature as Love. Through Jesus' works among the people and in his own behalf, God's nature as Preserver from sin, disease, and death was revealed—for all time!

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Ginny Stopfel teaches courses at Bible Study Seminars. She lives in Rockport, Massachusetts.