In the midst of a pandemic that has swept the globe and so profoundly affected people’s lives—threatening individuals’ physical and mental health, causing the loss of loved ones, straining the economy, changing the rules for social engagement, and forming an uncertain future in the minds of millions—one may wonder how to deal with such a critical situation.

I find hopeful answers in studying how Christ Jesus responded to crises. 

When Jesus faced threats to health and well-being, his understanding of God’s omnipresent love and care lifted his perspective above chaos and upheaval to God and the ever-presence of health and supply. To a man who had been immobilized with illness for many years, Jesus said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk” (John 5:8, New King James Version), and the man was restored to health. 

When surrounded by thousands of hungry people with virtually no food, Jesus discerned that God’s provision is always enough to meet the need, and everyone was fed—with plenty left over. Where the limited, material perspective saw lack, Jesus’ Christly, spiritual point of view revealed abundance, and this perspective resulted in the tangible benefit of those around him.

In explaining how we all can see beyond trouble, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The kingdom of heaven is all of God’s goodness, and it’s available right here. Jesus showed us that God’s support was not to be found at some distant date but is present to feel and experience now. He taught his followers to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). In sharing the spiritual sense of the Lord’s Prayer, Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, interpreted these lines this way: “Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present,” and “Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 17). 

Jesus’ inspired understanding—his spiritual sense—of the immediacy of God enabled him to perceive health and provision where the material viewpoint saw disease and limitation. 

We can learn to do the same. 

We can build on Jesus’ teaching and recognize God’s abundance at hand to heal, empower, protect, and provide. Where devastation appears real to the physical senses, spiritual sense can find good happening.

Years ago, when I was a young farmer, my dad and I planted a field with clover seed. After a few weeks, the seeds sent out healthy shoots that grew their first set of leaves. The field looked rich with promise. Then a severe wind ripped through our area. The fierce gale pelted tiny sand particles at the tender leaves like bullets shot at paper. The crop appeared destroyed. 

My dad was out of town when the storm hit, so after the storm I walked around the field alone, quite depressed, wondering what to do. I prayed for guidance, and found peace in knowing that no matter how bad the damage looked, God’s support was always at hand to bless. The crop might be gone, but I knew that God’s support and provision remained. 

When my dad returned, instead of giving up on the field, we decided to water, love, and care for what remained in the best way we knew. Over the next few weeks, to our utter delight, those hair-sized, wind-battered nibs sprang new leaves and grew into healthy plants that became an income-producing crop. The turnaround was phenomenal. 

God’s support is not to be found at some distant date but is present to feel and experience now.

In the decades since, I’ve never forgotten the spiritual lesson learned from witnessing that renewal: that right where devastation may appear real and graphic, wonderful things can still happen. If my dad and I had accepted the evidence of apparently irreversible damage before our eyes, we would have plowed that field under and had no crop or income from it. But we did not concede defeat. Our spiritual sense saw hope, and our trust in God’s ongoing care was rewarded.

We can do the same today in the face of the pandemic. Where the material senses see loss and turmoil, spiritual sense can find supply and order. Where material sense sees no hope, spiritual sense can find hope. The heavenly resources of God, divine Mind, are present for us to discern and demonstrate, and God has given each of us spiritual sense to see past problems to solutions that bring out God’s provision.

Jesus frequently encouraged his disciples to look beyond physical evidence to spiritual reality in order to see what he saw with spiritual sense. One time, when the disciples were arguing about having no bread for a journey they were on, he said: “ ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all?” (Mark 8:18, New Living Translation). He pointed out two times when he had fed thousands of people with a few loaves and fish, both times with an abundance of food left over. 

In this teaching moment, he was reminding them to look beyond loaves, beyond matter, to Spirit, the source of all that supports and nourishes in the first place, to see supply already at hand. His rebuke to them centuries ago serves as a pointed reminder for us as well. The abundance of heaven is present on earth to see and experience. God’s good is here now, and we each can see it with spiritual sense and experience it tangibly.

The Apostle John beheld the reality of heaven while on earth, as recorded in the book of Revelation. He wrote, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.” John had been persecuted and exiled to the island of Patmos by the Roman government. But he did not let this extreme situation limit the freedom and expansiveness of his thought. He continued to describe his vision: “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’ And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’ ” (21:1, 3–5, NLT). 

John used spiritual sense to see “a new earth,” where God had absolute authority, maintaining peace and health to the exclusion of all evil. As children of God, we have this same spiritual sense and can perceive this same view.

To material sense, the pandemic may appear to be the main event of the day, but to spiritual sense, what is happening with God is always the main event. With God, good is happening! Heaven is happening. The new earth is appearing. 

As Christ Jesus proved in a way that others could see, this new earth is demonstrable reality. Each of us has spiritual sense to see heaven’s blessings at hand yielding health and supply, just as the disciples saw with the loaves and fish, and as my dad and I witnessed with that clover field. We can all rely upon God’s omnipotence and omnipresence to restore and renew by opening our eyes to the good always at hand.