Assurances of God’s providence

This week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson, titled “Substance,” points to God’s true nature, always available to restore our lives, our homes, our wholeness. You might call this substance “uninvadable” reality. The Golden Text from Ecclesiastes affirms, “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it” (3:14).

The Responsive Reading leads us into the Lesson, with each of the 11 verses giving stand-alone assurances of God’s providence. The first verse, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot,” is rendered this way in the New International Version: “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure” (Ps. 16:5).

The second section of the Lesson shows that our “portion,” our God-given inheritance, is substantial and secure, and that our “cup” is not empty. Elisha the prophet comes to the rescue of a widow, not with money, but with step-by-step instructions that show her how to rely on God to meet her needs and to keep her family from being broken up. The borrowed pots and the ample oil that fills them all point to God, the restorer of supply (see II Kings 4:1–7, citation 6). In the previous section, Science and Health explains, “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (p. vii, cit. 1).

The third section opens with the stirring words, “I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: for I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord” (Jer. 30:11, 17, cit. 8). It then rejoins the narrative of Elisha’s spiritual career. He comes to the town of Shunem and enjoys the hospitality of one of its leading inhabitants, “a great woman” (II Kings 4:8, cit. 9). In the tradition of generosity, for which the Middle East is still famous, she insists that the prophet eat and stay with her family whenever he is in the neighborhood.

The Shunamite woman is generous and perceptive (see verse 9), and these qualities, combined with courage, spur her to go to Elisha for help after her child dies suddenly. When his servant, Gehazi, goes out to meet and question her on the prophet’s behalf, she utters the unforgettable affirmation of faith, “It is well” (verse 26). Elisha proves the substantiality of God, deific Life, by restoring the child, who “sneezed seven times, and … opened his eyes” (verse 35). In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “The evidence of man’s immortality will become more apparent, as material beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being are admitted” (p. 428, cit. 18).

The Shunamite family’s story has an instructive epilogue, related in Section IV (II Kings 8:1–6, cit. 11). Famine grips the region, and Elisha instructs the family to temporarily relocate to the Philistines’ territory; the more productive coastal farmlands there offer better prospects for survival. During their seven-year absence, the Shunamite’s landholdings appear to have been foreclosed upon. However, the story of her son’s remarkable healing is told by Gehazi to the king at the very time the Shunamite seeks his intervention, and the king willingly restores her home.

The Bible citations in the Lesson shift from the Old to the New Testament with an account of the restoration to wholeness of a man with a withered hand (see Matt. 12:9–13, cit. 15). This reassuring healing, occurring in spite of a hostile atmosphere and in the midst of a theological dispute, is marked with the man’s simple expectancy of wholeness and Christ Jesus’ advocacy on his behalf. Jesus uses a parable about a lost sheep to teach his opponents before he heals the sufferer. These words from Science and Health might be applied to everyone in the synagogue that day: “Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth” (p. 162, cit. 25).

The last section of this Lesson includes words of Isaiah (Isa. 58:11, cit. 16) that summarize many of the citations in the preceding sections. According to the New American Standard Bible, his words read:

Michael Hamilton teaches religion at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois.

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