Every day, humanity is confronted with various kinds of lack—lack of money or job opportunities, lack of health, lack of peace, lack of love, lack of meaning, lack of good government, and so on. In fact, evidence that we or others are without what is needed is so pervasive that a culture of lack just seems to be the normal state of being. But is it? 

One of the prominent themes of the Bible is that abundance is not only possible but expected when we look to God as our source of supply. Many people whose stories we read in the Scriptures found that prayer—when it is a deep acknowledgment that God is always present and caring for us—can transform a culture of lack into a culture of abundance.

Consider Abraham (initially known as Abram). He was an ordinary man, someone like you and me. Yet Abraham developed a healthy sense of the reality of good—of God’s ever-presence and direct guidance. God spoke to him, and he responded. This is first evident in his conviction that he must leave his native country (see Genesis 12:1–8), which can be seen as leaving the usual human ways of thinking and doing things—ways generally characterized by the belief that good is limited rather than abundant.

Abraham did leave, but not everything went smoothly. His nephew, Lot, had gone with him, and it appeared that there weren’t sufficient resources for all their livestock (see chap. 13). But Abraham didn’t conclude that there wasn’t enough good to go around, that scarcity was in control. Instead, he had an active perception of God as present, powerful, and able to supply all that everyone needs. 

It’s likely that it was this understanding of God as the source of unlimited good that led Abraham to suggest that he and Lot go their separate ways. He knew there was more than enough good for both of them. He told Lot to choose whatever land he wanted, and then Abraham went the other way. 

It quickly became clear that Abraham hadn’t lost out. God let him know that all the land he could see in every direction—all the good he could understand—would be his and his heirs’ forever. And Abraham prospered. Problems to be overcome arose, but his awareness of, and trust in, the abundance of God’s goodness continued to increase.

The prophet Elisha also developed a strong sense of the presence and power of God, good, and was able to convince others of that spiritual reality. For instance, a Shunammite woman who welcomed him into her home as he traveled didn’t have children, and her husband was old. But Elisha promised her she would have a son, and she did. 

But after a few years the woman’s son died suddenly. She immediately went to Elisha, as she was convinced that she could trust God. When Elisha’s servant asked if all was well with her child, her response was quick and confident: “It is well.” She evidently grasped that God was providing abundant goodness and life. And this was proved true when Elisha restored her son (see II Kings 4:8–37).

No one understood, demonstrated, and spread a culture of the abundance of good more than Christ Jesus. When people were sick, he healed them through his understanding of God’s constant, reliable care for man, His beloved spiritual offspring. If anything was lacking, he prayed, and the need was met. He taught people that infinite good was theirs, saying, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). 

He said not to be concerned about what to eat, drink, or wear. He urged his listeners to instead “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Because God is infinite good, and man reflects God’s unlimited spiritual nature, we can let go of the notion that good is finite, inactive, or even absent. 

How do we do this? We need to change our perspective. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy makes this point: “In league with material sense, mortals take limited views of all things” (p. 255). And this: “… we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love—the kingdom of heaven—reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear” (p. 248). 

So, like Abraham, we must leave behind material, limited views and go forward relying on the power of God to provide. Like Elisha and the Shunammite woman, we can be confident that “it is well” even when material observation loudly argues otherwise. And like Jesus, we can seek the kingdom of God first, trusting that every need will be met.

This isn’t Pollyanna optimism; it’s a stance grounded in a clear understanding of God as the unlimited giver of all good. “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need,” Science and Health says (p. 494). That’s a fact we can rely on.

Here’s a small modern-day example. My wife was planning to leave early Saturday morning to drive some twelve hundred miles over two days to spend Thanksgiving with other family members. But as she was doing errands late on the afternoon before her departure, a rock hit her car’s windshield and cracked it. 

We immediately phoned repair shops, but most weren’t answering our calls. When one finally did, we were told we could bring the car in Saturday morning to have the windshield repaired, if it was indeed repairable. If a new windshield was needed, it was unlikely to be in stock—and even if it was, the shop was too busy to install it that day. 

Despite the outlook, throughout the evening I continued to prayerfully affirm that God is ever present and active and that abundant good was therefore present. I was confident of it. 

When we got to the repair shop on Saturday, the mechanic took a look at the windshield and winced. He said he could try a repair but didn’t think it would work, at least for long; the crack was too deep. He then started to explain various options. 

I was hearing all this but still mentally affirming the spiritual fact of abundant good right at hand. Suddenly, with a surprised look on his face, the mechanic stopped the litany of unsatisfying options and disappeared into the back of the shop. In a couple of minutes he emerged beaming, telling us he had a new windshield and would install it immediately. 

Less than an hour after we arrived at the shop, we left with a new windshield, and my wife started her trip just a few hours later than planned. The dire predictions had been overruled by the law of abundant good, and that law had its appropriate manifestation in our experience.

The illusion of limitation and lack is dispelled as we claim the truth of abundant good, and think and act in accord with it. We can be generous, doing good to others without fear that we’re going to come up short or be left wanting. 

The Bible depicts God saying to us in Malachi 3:10, “Prove me now herewith … if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”