The God Who Paints With the Dark

Articles

Mar 6

I love stories. And, to my great delight, stories are everywhere.

We expect to find stories on the silver screen, on our social media feed, around the dinner table with friends and family. But, truly everything is a story or at least part of one. They don’t need a silver screen or pictures or even words. The smell of a baked bread, the taste of a homemade dish, the sweet melody line of a song, the cheer of the crowd, the sigh of a broken heart, the thunderclap of the storm—each tell a story. These glimpses make us ask, “Who, when, when, where, why, how?” And the answer we expect? A story.

Indeed, our very lives are stories. We can’t even begin to tell who we are without invoking a story. “I grew up in Sacramento…”

We consume stories, we tell stories, we live a story. In fact, apart from intangible ideals and philosophical constructs, what are we but walking, talking, breathing stories?

In the Beginning, God

It is not for no reason that the Bible starts with, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The beginning is a time, God is the character, and the heavens and the earth are a place. When time, character, and place are combined, they create story. God is the grand Author of history, the great weaver of all storylines, the sovereign King over every character, plot line, and place.1 That means God is the Author of all stories, even our the stories of our life.

Scripture says that our very stories are written in the book of God, shaped and fashioned before they come to pass. David confesses to the Lord, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; / And in Your book were all written / The days that were ordained for me, / When as yet there was not one of them” (Psalm 139:16).

The lengths and limits of our lives are determined by the very mind of God, according to His perfect wisdom. A man’s “days are determined, / The number of his months is with You / And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass” (Job 14:5).

Even the time and the setting of our lives is chosen by God. Paul declares, the Almighty God “Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation” (Acts 17:25–26).

Everything that happens, every minuscule part, comes because the Lord has so decreed. Whether it is “the answer of the tongue” (Prov 16:1), a man’s “steps” (16:9), or event the lot “cast into the lap (16:33a), truly “every decision is from the Lord” (16:33b).2 As Jeremiah laments, “ Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, / Unless the Lord has commanded it?” (Lam 3:37)

Painting with the Dark

But, if all this is true, what should we think of the darkness in our story? Why is there pain and sorrow, sin and suffering? If God is the ultimate Author of our stories, is He the author of evil itself? After all, Job says: “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity [הָרָ֖ע, “the evil”]?” (Job 2:10). Jeremiah writes, “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High / That both good and ill [הָרָעֹ֖ות, “the evil things”] go forth?” (Lamentations 3:37-38).

There are many answers to this question (in philosophy, called the problem of evil or theodicy; I have tried to answer this question myself here). But these answers can often feel too abstract, so instead, here let me offer a few analogies.

The orchestra will not blame the composer of evil simply because a movement is in the minor key. The felicity of a concerto is highlighted against the violence of the turn. The same notes that write a wedding song also compose the dirge.

The painter who uses the deepest of blacks is not guilty because he brings the darkness. Shadow and light, hard and soft, are only known when thrown in sharp contrast and sweet relief to one another. The same colors that make the rainbow compose the colors of blood, fire, and the clouds of the storm.

A chef balances bitter and sweet, salty and tangy, tart and smooth, cold and hot. A writer moves a story from conflict to resolution and from heartbreak to reconciliation. A screenwriter makes us cry, laugh, cheer, cringe, rejoice, and ache according to need of the moment, according to the movements of the character and plot line.

Good stories are inescapable human. But, perhaps we ought to say that the story—the story of all history, and in the story of our lives—is from the Divine. When God writes pain and suffering as part of the storyline—and yes, even sin—He does so as the Creator, the first creative. He does so to show the contours and depths of His character—His goodness and His righteousness, His mercy and His might, His justice and His love.

He commands light and dark, yes even good and evil, but remains perfectly good as the One who does only good (Psa 119:68). All His works are to establish His purpose and to accomplish all His good pleasure (Isa 46:9-10). And because He is good, it is good. His reasons may be hidden from finite human minds for a time, but the end is no less assured: the Master Playwright, the Divine Conductor, the Chief Architect of all things—the Almighty God—will cause everything to work together for good (Rom 8:28).

Romans 11:33-36  33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

To the Author of History, holy and true, the Story Teller of all story tellers, who paints with light and dark, with sadness and joy, be glory, and honor, and praise! One day He will make every bad thing untrue and every wrong right. But until then, His people trust, that in that day He will make all things good.