"Why must holy places be dark places?" This is the bitter question that epitomizes Orual's complaint against the gods in C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Written from the point of view of Psyche's sister, the book is Orual's accusation against the god of the Grey Mountain for his cruelty in taking away one of the few people she ever loved: Psyche. Yet even more heinous than that is the gods' crime of veiling themselves. Orual speaks of the gods' injustice:

"I say the gods deal very unrightly with us. For they will neither (which would be best of all) go away and leave us to live our own short days to ourselves, nor will they show themselves openly and tell us what they would have us do. For that too would be endurable. But to hint and hover, to draw near us in dreams and oracles, or in a waking vision that vanishes as soon as seen, to be dead silent when we question them and then glide back and whisper (words we cannot understand) in our ears when we most wish to be free of them, and to show one what they hide from another; what is all this but cat-and-mouse play, blindman's buff, and mere jugglery? Why must holy places be dark places?" (ch. 21)

A Great Offering must be made to this god of the Grey Mountain, the son of Ungit, in order to purge the land and make it flourish once again. "In the Great Offering, the victim must be perfect. For, in holy language, a man so offered is said to be Ungit's husband, and a woman is said to be the bride of Ungit's son," says the priest of Ungit (ch. 5). Psyche is chosen as this offering and is bound to a tree on the mountain.

Later, Orual goes to the tree to bury Psyche's remains (she suspects that Psyche has been devoured by a beast) and is astonished to find Psyche herself. Psyche tells Orual that her husband is the god of the Grey Mountain and that he is a good, loving god. He has built a beautiful palace for Psyche and provides for her every need. Yet he comes to her only at night in the cloak of darkness; Psyche has never seen his face.

Orual refuses to believe this and attributes Psyche's words to madness. The palace that Psyche sees so clearly remains invisible to Orual. Yet after Psyche leaves and Orual prepares to head back to Glome, she faintly sees the god's palace through the mist. She knows that Psyche speaks the truth, but pushes the thought aside because she does not want to believe. She is angered that Psyche loves this god of the mountain; that she is content in the love of her mysterious husband and wishes to be with him rather than return to Orual.

Near the end of the book, Orual is given the opportunity to stand as a witness and make her complaint against the gods. It is not until Orual comes to grips with her own cruelty and selfish love that she is able to see that she has been wrong about the character of the gods. In truth, she has fashioned the gods after her own image. The self-centered, devouring "love" she accuses to gods of displaying is the same sort of "love" she has had for Psyche.

Like the god of the Grey Mountain, God is a mystery. Oft it seems that the closer we draw to God, the deeper the mystery becomes because we realize that so many of our thoughts about the nature of God are wrong. Just as Orual is kept from believing in the goodness of the gods because of the suffering in her own life, so we struggle with unbelief when we see so much suffering in the world that seems inconsistent with the character of a loving God. When Orual makes her complaint against the gods, all the judge says to her is, "Are you answered?" "Yes," she replies. In essence, the answer from the gods is in the answerlessness. Orual realizes that the deficiency lies with her and her inability to understand. The only answer is to trust the gods.

This is similar to the answer to human suffering given in the book of Job. Job never receives an explanation for his suffering. Job loses his family, his material prosperity and his health, yet God never tells him that he was being tested by the Satan, nor is the reader told why God even wants Job to endure such testing. For much of the book, Job is left without any tangible response from God. When God does show up, He essentially tells Job that he does not understand, but He is good and sovereign. God answers not by changing Job's situation right away, but by showing Job that he has not been abandoned. In the end, Job does receive a double portion of blessing, his health is restored and he has more children. Yet, even though this story has a "good ending" of sorts because Job is blessed for keeping his integrity by refusing to curse God, it leaves the reader unsettled. Job does not receive his children back. Job is never given an answer from God except an, "I know what I'm doing, trust Me," so to speak. The book of Job emphasizes that man cannot understand God's purposes and calls man to trust that God knows what He is doing and will bless those who take refuge in Him. In essence, there is no purpose to questioning God. God is good and God is in control.

At the end of Till We Have Faces, the gods do show up and Orual is transformed from a bitter person to a beautiful one. Similarly, God has promised redemption and future restoration for those who take refuge in Him. Yet until that time, God's Presence is veiled, for, like Moses discovered, no one can see God and live (Exod. 33:20), for sinners cannot stand in the Presence of a holy God. Although the temple veil was torn when Christ made atonement for sin on the cross, the Holy of Holies is still, in some senses, a dark place because we still live in a fallen world. Our response should parallel that of Psyche. Neither Orual nor Psyche were permitted to see the god of the Grey Mountain, yet Psyche knew the goodness of her husband and she trusted him. Ultimately, the true character of the gods was revealed to both sisters. Though Orual's path was rougher because of her unbelief, both women encountered the veiled presence of the god of the mountain and came to know his love in the midst of his hiddenness.