Jesus told the story of a field owner who saw weeds coming up among the wheat he had sowed. “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. 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 root up the wheat with them.’”
Each of us has people in our sphere of influence who are not walking with the Lord. Some we come across are not only oblivious to the benefit of knowing Christ, they are actively antagonistic, even hostile toward us. Occasionally they make our lives difficult and our circumstance stressful. We pray for them and look for opportunities to witness for His sake, hoping all along that they will make that decision that will change their outlook immediately and their eternity forever. We want that for them for both their sake and our own – so they will know the peace of God and also no longer fill our lives with grief.
Thankfully, some will make that decision while they remain in our circles of influence. For this we praise God and are grateful for His grace and mercy. But some will not make that decision while we know them. In fact, some will simply refuse God’s grace unto their last dying breath and will do all they can while they breathe to make our lives difficult. For this we do not praise God. Knowing the dead are beyond repentance, we lament for a season, even if we do silently thank God that our lives are slightly easier because the pain they caused is finally over.
One might wonder why God did not ‘take out’ that person earlier. After all, God (who knows the future and the past) would’ve known that they would not repent. He could have taken them out earlier. He could have, but He did not. He did not shorten the lives of those who tormented Him on the cross, and He does not shorten the lives of those who similarly torment us.
No doubt God uses such individuals to cause spiritual growth and fruitfulness in those they inflicted. For “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Some would not have the spiritual character they now have as a result of knowing that person and the difficulty that relationship wrought. Some would not be worthy of all the majesty and glory they are being assigned on the other side of the resurrection, but for the hardships they endured at the hands of evil people while still on this side.
Of course, it is not that such a person is nothing but fertilizer for the wheat around them. Every reader of Scripture discovers that God is long suffering, kind and patient. This is part of His glory – that He is full of grace for even the most disobedient – and He is zealous for His glory. It is also God’s blessing on those they were close to. For an individual may be a bit of an ogre to many, but that individual still had a family of some kind. The still had a mother. That individual still meant something to someone, and in God’s mercy and kindness to them, He does not deign to inflict them with even more suffering. To pull up that weed early would’ve meant causing undue harm. The wheat around them would’ve been damaged. The wheat they were related to would’ve been choked off, and the harvest would’ve been lessened as a result.
In all things, God’s timing is nothing less than perfect.
Christ will be a most strict avenger of the injuries which the wicked inflict upon us.
John Calvin
APPLICATION: Worship
God is gracious, kind and long-suffering. But He is also holy and just, and He is coming to establish His rule forever. Let us humble ourselves before Him!