Why?

Read--Matthew 13: 24-30 It is perhaps the most asked question: why? For some reason, humans are in love with this one-word question. We ask it to gain information, to seek answers, or to express emotion. There are times when "why?" is all we can ask, and we ask it in a variety of ways. We everything else escapes us, we ask "why?". It was the first question the servants of the sower asked when seeing the wheat being overrun with weeds, "why did this happen?" They want to know why, if the master sowed good seed in the soil, that seed is now choked out by the weeds. The only response of the sower was that it was the work of an enemy. I wonder...how often do we ask the same question of God? When something happens that just seems so contradictory to God's goodness, we ask, out of frustration, anxiety, anger, or exasperation, "WHY??!!" Why, if God is so good, do these bad things happen, when God clearly desires us to be joyful. It is difficult to answer those questions. It is difficult to answer the questions of parents who watch their children suffer or of a community facing a difficult time. The initial response of the servants is to immediately eradicate all that is evil. Yet the master is cautious to do this, for fear of also harming the wheat. The destruction of the weeds wasn't worth any damage that could come to the wheat. And so it is with God's relationship to the world. We musn't believe that God is not pained by the sight of weeds in God's beautiful creation...God is terribly pained and grieves alongside us. Nor is God the cause of this pain and suffering; it is the work of an enemy, Satan, who seeks to turn into ugliness all that God has said is beautiful. And so we live with the weeds of life, growing amongst the wheat God has sown. Part of a faithful life is allowing God to guide us in the midst of a weed-infested world. It would be great if God could simply uproot all that is bad, but remember one thing: even those things that are weeds can eventually bloom and bring forth a life of beauty. God, we do not understand why some things happen or why you don't just step in and do make things right. Forgive us for those times we blame you and our faith is lacking. Help us to see the beauty in the face of the weeds. We pray in Jesus' name, AMEN.