Court trials—real ones or those in movies or on TV—tend to promote the concept that there are many minds, many approaches, many sides, and many laws at odds with one another. There is the defendant, the prosecutor, the judge, the witnesses, and the jury, among others—all with many opinions and often conflicting motives.
Outside of court, we can also feel this adversarial view of life. There are many different kinds of so-called laws—health laws, dietary guidelines, child-raising theories, and so forth. Many of them contradict one another.
But what if there was one universal law, where all parties were on the same side?
We, as children of God, cannot be outside of the law looking in.
This question was answered for me in a passage of the Bible: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether” (Psalms 19:7–9).
I had glossed over this passage several times as I read the Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly one week, but I was immensely grateful that God directed me to dig into these verses and really study them. I started by looking into the meaning of the words law, testimony, statute, commandment, fear, and judgment. Deeply contemplating these terms helped me understand the psalmist better and resulted in physical healing.
Law
Law is the action of God, Principle, governing the universe. God’s law is perfect. There are no loopholes. No one is left out. His law converts, adjusts, reforms, uplifts, and regenerates thought, and so experience. We know from the Bible that God is almighty, supreme, ever present, and consistent. Can His law be anything less? No. His law is the only law! Material laws that supposedly govern us do not actually govern or play a role in our lives. The Almighty’s law is all-powerful, supreme, and all there really is. There is no other law!
Testimony
Testimony is a statement or declaration from a witness that gives proof or affirmation. Since God, good, is All, the only possible testimony is the affirmation or proof of ever-present good. There is and can be no other testimony. We—as the “image” and “likeness” of God, as Genesis 1 states—cannot testify to anything ungodlike. If God is true, harmonious, intelligent, pure, whole, and complete, how can we testify to anything erroneous, inharmonious, impure, broken, lacking, or damaged?
Spiritually, man cannot make a statement or a confession about himself or anyone else that is not founded in that which God creates and sustains. God’s testimony is certain, irrefutable, and accurate, and we reflect the Divine.
Statute
The statutes, or permanent rules, of God are correct, operational, just, and merciful. They rejoice our hearts. When we realize that there are no material rules governing our lives because God is the only lawgiver and His law is spiritual, we are free to live and have our being under the command of God, Spirit. Equality, dominion, purity, perfection, health, and freedom are just some of God’s statutes or permanent rules.
Commandment
The commandment, or mandate, of God is for man to act in accord with divine law. Our ability to obey this law is inherent in the mandate to do so.
In truth, we cannot ignore or disobey God’s command. What authority do we, as God’s reflection, have to disobey? None. The reflection acts as the original acts. This is our nature. We, as children of God, cannot be outside of the law looking in. We cannot help but follow God’s command to reflect Him and to shine resplendent.
Even a small understanding of this great truth enlightens our eyes, our “spiritual discernment,—not material but mental,” as Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, explains them (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 586).
Fear
When Psalm 19 speaks of the fear of the Lord, it is referring to our awe and reverence for divine Love. We revere God and worship Him as our creator, our lawmaker, our law enforcer, and our law defender. Because of God’s perfection, we have no reason to lose our trust and faith in Him, or our understanding of His law and care for all.
Judgment
The judgments, or decisions and assessments, of God are true, correct, and lawful. He sees us as His perfect children. The only judgments of God are ones that are loving, truthful, and just, because God is Love, Truth, and Principle. He does not sentence us to pain, sin, sickness, or hell. If God, good, is All, then there is no place for hell to reside. In reality there is no person or consciousness that can be sentenced to suffer because our entire existence is in God’s kingdom—where we are spiritual, joyful, and free. We are judged by God to be innocent, whole, good, healthy, and blessed. This is a verdict we can all gladly accept.
Now, I spoke of being healed by these ideas, so let me share: I had been working on a garden project that involved lifting a heavy sieve. While I was lifting it, it slipped and one of the wooden legs of the sieve landed on my foot. It hurt. Then and there I prayed and the pain disappeared. I then continued with my gardening project.
We are judged by God to be innocent, whole, good, healthy, and blessed.
A few days later I started experiencing pain in the foot again and thought it was probably related to the accident. However, I had now been thoroughly prepared by my in-depth study of the Bible Lesson, and all these insights about God’s law came to mind. I realized that I could not testify to accident, hurt, or pain, because the only testimony there is, really comes from God.
As I continued my day, every time the pain surfaced, I was instant with a rebuke that this was not a verdict from God. I could not bear witness to error, because in God’s kingdom, where we all actually live, there is nothing that needs checking or prodding or correcting.
Science and Health states it this way: “The Science of Mind-healing shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man” (p. 120).
These ideas helped me feel the presence of God and His law, which simply ruled out any testimony of anything inharmonious. After that day of prayer, the pain went away and never returned.
I’m so grateful to the psalmist who sang of the complete and whole nature of God’s law. Nothing is outside of that law, and God’s law of good is all that governs us. The witnesses, plaintiff, defendant, judge, jury, prosecutor, and defender are all united under one God, good, one law, one existence, one motive. The truth is that we are all, in reality, innocent, free, forever blessed, because “the law of the Lord is perfect.”
