“If God is so good, why is there so much evil in the world?”

It’s a common question between believers and non-believers alike. Believers want to know why God allows suffering, while the non-believers challenge that our world is proof that there is no loving God.

Until just now, I didn’t have a good answer to that question. I simply figured that God was God, and He had reasons beyond which we could wrap our finite human minds. While that  still remains true, I’ve found a little more clarity regarding God’s seeming inactivity as I  read the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13.

In this story, a man sowed good seed in a field, but when everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and scattered weeds among the crop. When the plants began to grow, it was quite obvious that there had been foul play, but when the servants asked if they should pull the weeds, the farmer said no. He explained that, in purging the evil, they might accidentally uproot the good. The farmer wouldn’t risk that, so the weeds remained until harvest.

So there it is. Straight from the mouth of Jesus. The reason there is evil in our world. Satan sowed his seed among God’s own, and God won’t risk harming His children in order to rid this world of evil. Only when the time for harvest comes will He separate the wheat from the weeds.

It’s pretty bizarre to think that God allows evil for our sakes. It doesn’t make much sense to my logical human mind, but God seems to think that it’s best for me that way. For now, I’m content to  simply cling to the promise of the harvest and know that God is going to purge all the evil from this world someday.