“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.”
Matthew 13:27,28
Weeds in This World
Daily Devotion – August 4, 2020
Devotion based on Matthew 13:27,28
See series: Devotions
When weeds grow in your garden, whose fault is it? On one level, it’s not really anyone’s fault, since weeds simply are a part of life in this sin-cursed world. But at the same time, if you either negligently or purposely allow the weeds to continue to grow, you have no one but yourself to blame when the weeds take over.
“Whose fault is it that there are weeds in the field?” the farmer’s servants, in essence, asked the farmer in Jesus’ story. “We know you planted good wheat seed in the field. So, where did all these weeds come from?” The farmer’s answer was clear and unequivocal. “An enemy did this,” he replied. It was not the farmer’s fault that weeds were growing in his field. He had not planted them there. Rather an enemy who was determined to ruin the farmer’s field had planted those weeds there.
Whose fault is it that there are weeds in this world? In other words, whose fault is it that there is evil in this world? If God is the almighty Lord of all as he says he is, why does evil exist at all? If God truly is truly in control of all things, wouldn’t he make sure that no evil ever entered his world? Isn’t God to blame for the weeds that have invaded his field?
God’s answer to those questions is clear and unequivocal: “An enemy did this.” The Devil, not God, is the one who brought evil into this world. Satan tempted Adam and Eve, our first parents, to sin. And when they sinned, evil entered our world.
God, however, immediately promised to send a Savior to overcome sin, Satan, and all evil. He fulfilled that promise for us in Jesus. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work,” the apostle John tells us (1 John 3:8). And by his perfect life and innocent suffering and death on our behalf, Jesus did just that.
So, when you see weeds in the world, don’t blame God. Instead, blame the enemy. And give thanks to God that he sent his Son into the world to destroy the devil’s work for us.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, whenever I encounter evil, help me to remember that you are not its source. Rather you are the one who sent your Son so that he might overcome all evil for me. Amen.
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