ONE evening, while visiting in the country, I noticed someone walking along a dark road with a flashlight. It seemed as though the darkness parted for the individual with the light to pass through, and then it closed in behind him again. He was literally walking in a pathway of light, and this light divided the darkness, thereby revealing a safe path. The way was there all the time, but the light revealed it. I was reminded of the experience of Moses and the children of Israel at the Red Sea. Before Moses' illumined thought, the waters parted, and he and those who were with him passed through the midst of the sea on dry land.
Having seen that the power of God is made manifest through man, Moses was obedient to the divine command (Ex. 14: 16), "Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea." The dry land appeared! And the Israelites went forward in perfect safety.
In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes (p. 505), "Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal." Understanding then is that which discriminates by setting apart the good from the evil, the pure from the impure, the essential from the unsubstantial. Moses drew "the line of demarcation" across the Red Sea, and this line of spiritual understanding separated the children of Israel from danger and changed what had appeared to be an impassable barrier of water into an open thoroughfare. This understanding revealed to Moses a sure way where material vision saw only obstruction. His spiritual understanding of the power of God and his active obedience to the divine command brought to light the dry land—the specific formation of thought needed at that moment—on which the Israelites were able to proceed, and by which they were set apart from the forces of evil, darkness, and aggression.
