Only a few months ago, a flame of revolution was lit in Tunisia that has engulfed a large part of North Africa and the Middle East. Tunisia and Egypt captured the headlines first; other nations followed. As this article goes to press, Libya is still at war; Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Iran have taken repressive actions against protesters. Refugees have gathered in the thousands, and are being helped by humanitarian agencies.

Each country’s situation is unique, but there are some key issues that have been identified over and over again as universal points that need to be addressed. Prayer about these issues can do much to guide these quests for freedom and to lift peoples and their nations to a higher standpoint and greater freedom than before.

Fearless prayer

Many of the people engaged in the revolutions have shown remarkable courage under extraordinary conditions. Our prayers need to be equally fearless on behalf of justice, peace, honesty, and love for all humanity. Fear is an element not only within the North African and Middle Eastern countries, but also in the US and European nations, which are working out how to respond. Speculators fuel fear by driving up oil prices, even where there is no shortage. Disinformation and rumors, especially by supporters of Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi, have built up fear and confusion. European countries have been fearing a refugee invasion. 

A conviction of God’s love and mercy can lift thought above these fears, and the Bible offers much support. The prophet Isaiah lived through times that were as tumultuous in their way as ours are today, yet his clear vision of God’s power and glory never left him. He declared with authority: “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you” (Isa. 35:3, 4).

God, divine Mind, is the true governor of the nations, and His purpose is only to bless all of His people. While individuals may identify themselves with an ethnic group, tribe, or set of religious beliefs, God never sees anyone that way. To the one Mind, each is His spiritual idea created to express His intelligence, goodness, and love. 

However confusing events may claim to be, our insistence on the presence of this one Mind, guiding all toward peace and justice, will lead to solutions that are satisfying and complete.

Opportunity opening up 

For decades, well-educated people, mostly young men, living under autocratic governments have had menial positions, such as carrying suitcases for tourists, because that was the highest level of employment they could expect. This stifling of human intelligence and enterprise has increased over the years. Poverty—which is exacerbated by rising food prices—affects individuals’ lives in many ways. For young people, it leads to great frustration because customary beliefs prevent one from getting married unless one can support one’s family. While some opportunities exist for women to work outside the home and even in professions, these too are severely limited.

Such impediments never come from a God who is all good, and prayer can recognize that each individual has the right to progress and to use the talents Love has provided. Everyone has a specific purpose. Nothing—no ruler, political system, or any other humanly based impediment—can prevent the fulfillment of that purpose when it is supported by prayer and love for God.

This prayer can carry over to the larger regional picture as well. The Christian Science Monitor beautifully defined the overall problem in a headline: “At the heart of the Arab revolts: a search for dignity” (March 3, 2011). People long to be seen as more than powerless subjects or poverty-stricken pawns in the hands of kings more interested in control than in human progress.

Permanent freedom comes as one moves beyond political striving—important as that is—to the spiritual facts. In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legitimate state of man. God made man free” (p. 227).

This freedom comes through the understanding that each individual is spiritual, the reflection or idea of God. As such, every man and woman naturally includes spiritual qualities such as intelligence, purity, strength, love, honesty—as well as many more. Untapped, these qualities lie dormant—a source of supply that could benefit the world, but that is kept under repression’s lock and key.

The revolutions have begun to release these supplies of intelligence, courage, and creativity. Our prayers can recognize their spiritual basis, uncontaminated by anger, frustration, fear, hate, or desire for revenge. They are incorruptible and ever present because their source is in God. So is their outlet. Under the divine government, the opportunities to express these qualities in ways that will bless individuals and their nations will become possible and unstoppable.

Uncorrupted progress

Related to the unemployment problem are corruption and tribal customs that prevent people from getting jobs unless they have the right connections. The longer one can remain in power, the more one can do to benefit family and useful friends. And these, in turn, help one maintain power. This system exists in government and business—again stifling opportunity for those who have ideas, intelligence, and education but no
“connections.”

Far beyond the power of the tribe is the power of the Family—that is, the family of God. According to the book of Isaiah, the Father of this family says: “Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory” (43:5–7).

This concept of God as Father goes beyond the comfort of claiming the protection of our omnipresent, omnipotent, and all-knowing Parent. United in this one family of God, we feel invested in love for those endangered by war, in disasters, in hunger and lack. 

Each individual has been created to express the glory and goodness of God. This is our true heritage, and anything that would attempt to stand in the way of this divine purpose must yield. Yet prayer is essential to keep such efforts on a spiritual basis, where lust for revenge, hateful motivations, and so forth can be denied entrance. Within the family of God, each individual is already inseparable from divine Love and all of God’s goodness. Human connections, or the lack of them, can’t impede genuine progress when one’s steps are guided by prayer.

Christ Jesus’ ministry brings out again and again that our relation to God is as children to an all-loving Father. This concept of God as Father goes beyond the comfort of claiming the protection of our omnipresent, omnipotent, and all-knowing Parent. United in this one family of God, we feel invested in love for those endangered by war, disasters, hunger, and lack. They are members of our family, and we are in theirs as well. Thus, if our sisters and brothers in Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or elsewhere are in trouble, it’s natural to reach out to them in love and prayer, not as strangers but as fellow citizens of God’s kingdom. This spiritual connection is beautifully expressed in the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus began simply by saying, “Our Father . . .” (Matt. 6:9).

The path forward

At present, rumors about possible political and military outcomes continue to swirl, like dust storms in the desert. Even in countries such as Egypt, which seem to be moving toward more open governments, months may pass before outcomes are clear. The quest for freedom and the commitment to bring it about despite difficulties deserves our dedicated prayers.

During this time, we can persist in the conviction that nothing good can be lost. Science and Health declares, “Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God” (p. 243). This statement, put into practice, ensures that evil of any kind will be eliminated. It also makes clear that whatever is in accord with Truth, Life, and Love will be preserved and protected. However long it takes, our individual prayers can right now insist that divine Truth will guide all people to unity and intelligent governance.

This “new birth” in the Middle East and North Africa is a time of great opportunity for good. Supplies of strength, intelligence, joy, and creativity, which have been held in bondage, are being set free. We don’t need to fear these changes, major as they are. Rather, it’s the privilege of those who love God and their fellow humans to embrace all in the divine goodness that is pouring out on each one of us. God’s love is present. It is omnipotent. It will prevail.