Reading: Isaiah 55:6-11; Psalm 139
God is subject to none and nothing and He is the source and origin of everything. God is good. God is the norm, He is the measurement of good. He is the Light and in Him, there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). With God is the fountain of life, in His light, we see light (Psalm 36:9).
However, there is also evil. Evil is not from God. Evil is not created by God. God is not the Author of evil.
If God is not the Author of evil, how can we still say that God is the origin of everything?
We can say that because evil is not created. Evil is the absence of good. Real darkness is the absence of light. Evil is the absence of goodness.
In eternity there are only absolutes: God is good, outside of God there is only evil. Evil is that which is devoid of all goodness. Darkness is the absolute absence of any light, Hate is the absence of all love.
God is good. God loves whatever is good because that is a reflection of Himself. God loves beauty and beauty is determined by Him. Beauty reflects God’s glory.
God is without limit: without beginning, without end, but also without any other limitation. His thoughts are deep, without end, and high, limitless. (“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”, Isaiah 55:9).
God is omnipresent. How is it then possible to believe that there is absolute evil? Absolute evil is the absence of all that is good. Hell is the ultimate hate, which is the absence of God’s love. Is God not everywhere present?
God is and remains everywhere present. However, God decides to hold back His goodness. God decides not to make His presence felt. There is a difference between ‘away from God’s presence’ and ‘being forsaken by God’. We can and will never escape God’s presence (see Psalm 139:7-12: “…even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”) Even though God may withhold His goodness and light, He is still present. God is omnipresent, but His goodness is not felt everywhere. Hell is being forsaken by God, it is not being away from God’s presence. When Jesus Christ descended into hell, during His suffering on the cross, He did not feel God’s presence and goodness. He was forsaken by God but was not away from God’s presence. God did not hate Him. God loved Him. God testified about Him that He is God’s beloved Son, in Whom God is well pleased (Matthew 3:17). But Jesus did not experience God’s love.
Even in eternity, God can decide that there may be ‘situations’ (places or events or creatures) where God’s goodness is completely absent. That is why Satan and the demons can exist. God allows them to exist by withdrawing His goodness from them. Nevertheless, they are still under God’s power and within the limits, He imposes on them.
Key text: 1 John 1: 5: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
Meditation: The light exposes everything. God is light. Living with God means that all our sins will be exposed and must be washed away with the blood of Christ. Is it our heartfelt desire to live with God? What does that mean for our daily life?