In which God Chose to Let There Be Darkness as Well as Light–and Pronounced Them Both Good | Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” 

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Gen 1: 2-31)

* * *

Darkness and formlessness were the natural state of things. But God loves order and light.

And with four words God created light out of the darkness and formlessness in which he did not delight.

Dawn, sunrise, sunlight, blazing sunsets.

All good.

And he could have given us a world of these, of sunrise and sunset and sunny days.

But he chose to leave darkness. For rest.

And for his own mysterious purposes.

And God pronounced this world, of light and darkness, of birth and death, of babyhood and old age, of beginnings and ends, very good.

* * *

In that beautiful Last Supper, Jesus sits with John, who adored him, practically draped on him. And on the other side, Judas. Sweet love and bitter hate on either side. And, in front of him, his father, on whom the eyes of his heart were ever fixed.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. (Matt 26:26)

Within a day, he would be dead, and he knew it. And he gave thanks before the brokenness.

For this is the world the Lord has made, there is light, and there is darkness, and God pronounced it very good.

Darkness will turn to light again and again, and one day we will leave this earth we so love, and this life we so love, and be with him who is all “light, and in whom there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5).

* * *

The Spirit of God hovers over the world, insistently hovers, and so we can forth into it knowing that God, the great alchemist can bring good out of everything, all the darkness that sometimes oppresses us.