In the Christian Science Bible Lesson December 8, 2014 Issue

Deliverance from trials

For the Lesson titled: "God the Preserver of Man" from December 8-14, 2014

Brian Hall

This week’s Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly, titled “God the Preserver of Man,” shows us that the understanding of our relationship to God is a wonderful source of protection and deliverance.

In the Responsive Reading, the book of Isaiah declares this promise from God: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (43:2). This doesn’t tell us that we will never have trials; rather, it’s saying that we will not be overcome by them. Regardless of what the material sense of things tells us, the spiritual fact is that we belong to God; we are His children, and He protects us.

The life of Joseph, recounted in the Lesson, is testament to this fact. In Section 1, we see the young Joseph as the object of his older brothers’ jealousy. They were so consumed by ill will toward Joseph that some of them wanted to kill him. In the end they settle for selling him into slavery. Yet through it all, Joseph was protected. His eventual Egyptian owner, Potiphar, made him the overseer of his house, recognizing in Joseph “that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand” (Genesis 39:3, citation 4).

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