“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust” (Psalms 91:1, 2). From beginning to end, the Bible is filled with accounts of deliverance from every conceivable crisis: from storms and floods, to famine and plagues. It tells of our heavenly home, where we are safe and secure. It speaks of God as a refuge against life’s tempests, and of our oneness with Him as a haven against anything that would cause harm or loss.
Where is this unassailable haven? It is a state of spiritual consciousness. Christ Jesus described it as “the kingdom of God … within you” (Luke 17:21), or God’s presence within each one of us—within reach of our consciousness right here and now.
Jesus sometimes used the word house in his teaching as a metaphor for human consciousness (see, for example, Matthew 24:43). The woman who discovered the spiritual import of Jesus’ teachings, Mary Baker Eddy, used the same convention when illuminating the spiritual sense of the twenty-third Psalm: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [love] for ever” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 578).
Want to read this article from the Journal?
Subscribe to JSH-Online to access The Christian Science Journal, along with the Christian Science Sentinel and The Herald of Christian Science. Get unlimited access to current issues, the searchable archive, podcasts, audio for issues, biographies about Mary Baker Eddy, and more. Already a subscriber? Log in