Streams of Mercy - Consider God's wisdom
The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest…'” (Matthew 13: 28-30).
Our Father, Great are You, Lord, and mighty in power; Your understanding is infinite. You are righteous in all Your ways and gracious in all Your works (Psalm 147:5, 17 -NKJV).
In our humanity we often struggle to make sense of infinite ways with finite understanding, and Your people have come again and again before You to pour out... [their] complaints... tell [their] trouble... (Psalm 142:2). Scripture is full of the angst of our questions:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and You will not hear?... (Habakkuk 1:2).
How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge...? (Revelation 6:10).
How long will the enemy mock You, God? (Psalm 74:10).
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? (Job 21:7)
Why do the... wicked prosper [and] all the faithless live at ease? (Jeremiah 12:1)
You show us by Your word that we can voice our complaints to You (Psalm 64:1)—that You hear the "how longs" and the "whys" of our hearts. But our Lord Jesus gives us glimpses into the divine wisdom that permits, for now, the coexistence of good and evil.
Contrary to our simplistic thinking about merit, and justice, and entitlement, and expectations, our wise and merciful Father makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). And in the Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13: 36-43), Jesus illustrates the intricacies of human interdependency in our fallen, broken world.
From our limited human perspective, we often have a mistaken and conceited presumption of our "goodness." But divine measurement of righteousness is beyond our human and societal notions of "acceptable," for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Jesus makes this quite clear. To some who brought Him reports about others who had suffered disaster, He responded with a caution about presuming their own innocence: "...do you think they were more guilty... I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:1-5).
Even for those who trust in You—who put their hope only in Your salvation, the common benefits and challenges of this world are part of our journey through life. And in the parable, Jesus emphasizes that a precise and infallible judgment can come only from God at the appropriate time. He explains that prematurely gathering the weeds sown by the enemy among the good seed could root up the wheat along with them (Matthew 13:28-29).
Father, until You restore everything (Acts 3:21) Your streams of mercy will often flow through human systems and human channels. We live in a world of governments, and organizations—even religious institutions—full of weeds and enemy seed.
Give us the faith to trust You fully. Give us the clarity, the courage, and the wisdom to discern and navigate weeds and other enemy "plantings" as we follow Your command to occupy till I come (Luke 19:13 -KJV).
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