To understand the law of supply or provision, one must grasp the deeper meaning of "law" as well as "supply." True law is unchangeable, inflexible, and eternal. It cannot be manipulated or circumvented; nor can it be affected by time, changes in behavior patterns or customs, human pressures or whims. It is based on unerring Principle, and Principle is God. Therefore it is supported and upheld by God and is wholly spiritual and complete. Because it emanates from God, whose nature is good, law, to be law, must be good.

On the other hand, human law is man-made, not God-made. When based on God's immutable law as given in the Ten Commandments and Christ Jesus' teachings, human law is an influence for good. But when based on human opinion, it is subject to abuse and mortal limitations. It can be outmoded by time or other material circumstances and is subject to human interpretation, which can err.

Law based on opinion can also be directly opposed to God's law. One evidence of this opposition is the material so-called law that says man must become sick and die. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy uncovers the lie of material law when referring to Christ Jesus' healing works. She writes: "He did the will of the Father. He healed sickness in defiance of what is called material law, but in accordance with God's law, the law of Mind." ^{Science and Health, p. 168.}

Now, supply, like law, emanates from God, though the material senses would argue otherwise. If you doubt this, consider for a moment the instances described throughout the Bible where supply—as food, water, money, or some other thing—was manifested when materially none seemed available. For the Israelites under Moses' guidance, manna appeared on the ground like frost, water issued from a rock, and quail that came at night were their meat. Christ Jesus also fed thousands by spiritual means alone. At another time he directed Peter to a fish's mouth for needed tax money. His works show clearly that the source of man's supply is unlimited and that this law can and does provide for daily needs.

Even humanly the word "supply" is derived from the Latin "supplere," which means "to fill up." Yet common usage has so limited the word that we have the expression "in short supply," which is actually a contradiction in terms! The true sense of supply is beautifully illustrated in the fourth chapter of II Kings where we read that Elisha helped a widow whose sons were about to be taken into slavery because of her debts. He asked her, "What hast thou in the house?" She answered, "Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil." This showed her belief that income, sustenance, and so on, had a material source. Elisha revealed to her that if she had faith, the very pot of oil she discounted could provide all her needs. Lack was not in her house but in her consciousness. Her willingness to follow his instructions to gather empty pots from her neighbors shows that she was beginning to see through the material sense testimony around her. This increasing faith in God's goodness, supported by the prophet's spiritual vision, enabled her to fill all the containers from her one pot of oil.

But, someone may ask, how can this law of spiritual abundance be demonstrated today? There are so many more complicated circumstances.

A Christian Scientist, living in what could be termed a third-world country, was directed to this same account in the Bible through the help of a Christian Science practitioner. Like the widow, she was in need. She had owned a good business but as a result of political upheavals in the country, her source of supply, like many on the island, had been cut off. What seemed even more challenging, she had applied for class teaching in Christian Science and the time was drawing nearer for her to go, yet the funds were not evident. In her work with the practitioner she was led to see that to a great extent her income was based on the thoughts she was allowing into consciousness. The conditions that seemed to create deprivation, such as the lack of tourists, her nation's classification as a third-world country, the political instability, were material. Not being spiritual, they did not come from God, Mind. Then, they could not invade her experience if she did not allow them to. They were limiting beliefs; whereas she needed to expand her thought to the unlimited goodness of God.

Through this prayerful work, two things happened: her study of Christian Science became a joyous, rather than a labored, activity; and the fear, instead of increasing with the passage of time, became less and less prevalent in her thought. Still the material evidence did not appear to change.

Finally one morning, as she was reviewing the account of the widow in the Bible, she asked herself aloud, "What have I in my house?" And through her expanding understanding of supply she became aware of two sewing machines not in use and furniture she was storing in her home that she no longer needed and could sell. But the question arose, Who could afford to buy? Immediately she rejected that negative thought and looked out the window. Across the way were workers in a government building. She called out to one to come and see her. Through that one individual and her friends, the Christian Scientist was able, within less than a month's time, to sell enough to realize all she needed for her trip. Not only that, but the things she no longer needed blessed those who purchased them from her at reasonable prices. It was indeed a lesson in the abundance of good for all.

The true law of supply, then, God's law of supply, is never insufficient, imbalanced, or partial. Nor is it based on material reserves, for it is backed wholly by God, Mind. Man comes under this law of supply by virtue of his being God's manifestation, or expression. Christ Jesus stated it thus: "All things that the Father hath are mine." ^{John 16:15.} God's goodness is man's because it is an outpouring of God's love for man. Therefore as God's manifestation, man expresses abundance as much as he does mercy, love, joy, and so on. Since there is no deficiency in God, there can be no deficiency in His idea, man.

So what is it that bars us from seeing this law of supply operating more equitably in our lives and in the world today? It is the universal belief in lack—evidenced as lack of jobs, food, rain for crops, or ideas. People are led to believe in lack through the material senses, which wrongly report the substance of supply to be material in the same way that the substance of health is thought to reside in the material body. This false thinking would leave God out of His own creation and make matter the source of all substance.

Lack, then, results from an individual's accepting the testimony of the material senses. To the degree that this is corrected and consciousness becomes imbued with the divinely scientific facts of God's law of supply, abundance is manifested. How much abundance? To Abram, who had urged Lot to pasture his cattle in a separate place because of strife between their herdmen, and had given Lot the first choice of land, God said, "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." ^{Gen. 13:14, 15.} How much abundance? All that Abram saw.

Science and Health says: "If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the supremacy of good, ought we not, contrariwise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it,—no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent?" ^{Science and Health, p. 130.}

We bring into our experience what we see or understand of the divine law of supply. And as we learn to turn more and more to God—to walk humbly with Him—the lie of lack in all its forms progressively ceases to present itself to us. The Psalmist, in one remarkable sentence of great spiritual import, described this perfect law in these revealing and comforting words: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." ^{Ps. 23:1.}