The Space Between
by Sarah Van Diest, author of God in the Dark:31 Devotions to Let the Light Back In(NavPress © 2018)
“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:24
Is evil the absence of good?
Is there such a thing as the absence of good?
The first question was one a friend asked me; the second question was my reply. The answer to the second seems to be necessary to truly answer the first.
Is there ever a time, a place, a circumstance where good—and I will replace goodwith God, because all that is good is of God—is not present? Scripture seems to say no. God is in Sheol—the grave (Psalm 139:8). He is in the dark and the storm (Psalm 97:2; Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22). He is always, in all time (Revelation 1:8; Psalm 90). He is in all places (Proverbs 15:3; Jeremiah 23:24; John 1:3-5).
So, though I know our painful experiences and limited perspective may cause us to believe all good has vanished, I must believe that God is never absent. He is always present, no matter the circumstance. We’re never alone.
To the question of whether the absence of good is evil, I simply have to say, “No, I don’t think so.” Evil is something else. It’s a present thing, not an absence of something. If we think of evil as the absence of good, then we will despair. We’ll encounter days full of evil, and people with evil intent. If we believe their existence and presence in our lives means that good, and therefore God, has abandoned us, then where is our hope? We will feel utterly alone. We mustn’t forget God’s ultimate sovereignty, or we’ll be lost in our own darkness.
I wanted to express these odd thoughts about what evil isn’t and who God is, and it all tumbled out in an awkward poem. The question echoed in my mind as I wrote: Is God always, even in the dark?
Darkness.
Invisible but unmistakable.
The space between is all there is of what is not.
What proof of nothingness is that? It is not proof at all. It is just room. A breath.
Word and then word with wind betwixt is what there is. There is no not, only space to wait.
And then another word comes on. The verse flows out and over, in and through.
It sings and soars and roars through thunder, water, and in storm.
The breaks are soft, gentle, low, and fine.
Undetectable but undeniable.
Divine.
It is darkness, after all, that holds the stars.
My soul declares there is no absence of God, and he is always present in every moment and circumstance, in every black night and empty space. So why, my friend, should we fear the dark? This fallen world and our sin-struck lives are the not the whole story; they are not the big picture.
Look into the dark today. See his hand. Listen for his voice. Lean into his embrace.
You are not alone.
Taken from God In the Dark: 31 Devotions to Let the Light Back In by Sarah Van Diest. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
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