No Darkness at All

RUTH M. PALMER

The Bible instructs us, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."^{I John 1:5;}

Since darkness is equated with evil, it follows that He knows no darkness, no evil. The Scriptures also declare of Him, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."^{Hab. 1:13;}

In her book Unity of Good Mrs. Eddy writes: "God is All-in-all." She continues, "He is all the Life and Mind there is or can be." And on the same page she concludes, "If He is All, He can have no consciousness of anything unlike Himself; because, if He is omnipresent, there can be nothing outside of Himself."^{Un., p. 3;}

Some years ago I was struggling with what seemed to be a cloud of mental darkness, trying almost desperately to understand how God could help me overcome the mental anguish I was suffering. I was working and praying with the verse quoted at the beginning of this article, and striving to see how God could be all-seeing and all-knowing and not see my difficulty.

One evening I realized more clearly than ever before that God, infinite good, sees no evil. I was sitting in the living room by a lamp, reading the Bible along with the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, when my little daughter called, "Mommie, why didn't you wave to me?" From her bed in her room she could see me in the living room. I looked toward her room but could see nothing. I explained to her I could not see her because I was sitting in the light and couldn't see anything that was in the dark.

Suddenly it was very clear to me from this illustration that just as I could see nothing outside the circle of light where I was sitting, so God, who is Spirit, light, sees nothing outside Himself, and He is All. Now I could understand how error can only appear in the darkness of mortal belief—that darkness is completely unknown to God, that it is nonexistent, and therefore unknown to His perfect, spiritual image and likeness, man.

At that moment the burden of false belief began to lessen, and soon I was free. I could see the unreality of anything that God does not see, and all that He sees is true and good. Later I read Mrs. Eddy's words, "He dwelleth in light; and in the light He sees light, and cannot see darkness."^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 367.}

I have long since forgotten the details of what was troubling me, but I have never forgotten the inspiration I felt through the understanding that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." When we turn humbly to God, He meets our needs in just the way we can best understand, as I proved.

What a joy to know that you and I can never for an instant be deprived of the light of Christ, Truth! This light is ever present, and it always dispels the darkness.

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