In the Christian Science Bible Lesson March 12, 2012 Issue

What are we relying on?

For the lesson titled "Matter" from March 12-18, 2012

By Maya Dietz

While reading this Bible Lesson on “Matter,” I could not help but think of a little book by C.S. Lewis titled The Screwtape Letters. For those who have never read it, it presents letters between one of the devil’s master tempters, Screwtape, and his protégé, who is attempting to lure someone away from God. What has always struck me about these glimpses is that the only tool the tempter has in his bag is to make suggestions. He cannot change the circumstances; he can only make the person believe something untrue, or discouraging, about his or her circumstances. How important, then, to ask ourselves regularly the question posed by the Golden Text, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” (Proverbs 23:5). When we are experiencing insecurity or instability in our lives, the first thing to examine is what we are listening to and what evidence we are accepting as real—the carnal mind’s suggestions, or the God-given facts about our life and identity? The entire Lesson reminds us to question what we are relying on for authority.

Take, for example, the story of Moses in Section II. When Moses is asked by God to speak to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he is doubtful that he is capable and fearful of the people’s reaction. When Moses’ rod turns into a dangerous snake, it is rendered harmless as he picks it up and it turns back into a rod. In a second sign, Moses’ hand turns white with leprosy, only to return to normal just as quickly (see Exodus 4:1–8, citation 7). Both the serpent and the disease were fear-inducing events that could have caused Moses to doubt God’s control of his life, and yet God shows Moses that they are powerless. Science and Health explains, “The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him, when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really but a phase of mortal belief” (p. 321, cit. 7). Without fear there is no foundation on which mortal mind can claim any authority.

Sections IV and V bring us to Israel hundreds of years later. Hezekiah was the king of Judah, a small and vulnerable kingdom between Assyria and Egypt. Logically, an alliance with King Merodach-baladan of the larger and more powerful Babylon against Assyria would have made sense for Hezekiah. The prophet Isaiah objected to the alliance, however, on the grounds that the Lord would protect Israel, predicting that reliance on Babylon would lead to Judah’s destruction (see Isaiah 39:6, cit. 13). Just over 100 years later, Babylon did indeed conquer Israel and destroy the temple in Jerusalem. With sharp insight, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Whatever influence you cast on the side of matter, you take away from Mind, which would otherwise outweigh all else” (Science and Health, p. 168, cit. 15). Our protection is to be found in God, and not in the hands of the wealthy and powerful.