Two men lost their way hiking through a dense forest in Montana. It was a remote area, they were not recognizing any landmarks, and could not be sure if the direction they were going was leading them toward a road or further into the wilderness.
Late in the afternoon on the third day of being lost, they came across a clearing. It looked as if someone had cleared the area, and what’s more, in the center of the clearing was a garden. It was a large garden with many kinds of flowers and vegetables. Everything was planted in neat rows and organized by sections. All the flowers were in one area, and in other sections there were potatoes, sweet corn, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, and much more. The only problem was that the whole thing was grown in with weeds. This led to a disagreement between the two men.
“Look at that garden,” said one. “This is great! We are saved! There has to be someone around here somewhere. All we have to do is find the gardener. We will look for him, shout for him, wait for him, build a fire to let him know we are here, or something. But we will find him. Perhaps he is very close.”
“Nonsense,” said the other man. “Gardener, you say? What gardener? I don’t see any gardener. Look at all those weeds. No gardener would allow such a mess. Those weeds would not be here if someone planted this garden. All this just grew here like the rest of the forest around us. Waiting around here would be a waste of our time. Let’s keep moving.”
“What?,” said the first man. “Are you crazy? Of course I see the weeds. But don’t you see the straight rows, the wide variety, and the systematic organization? Plants don’t grow in such order all by themselves. I don’t know why there are so many weeds, and I don’t have to know. I just know that someone has been here, and our best hope is to look for that someone. Otherwise, we remain lost.”
“I believe in what I can see,” said the other man. “And what I see is a bunch of flowers and a bunch of vegetables and a bunch of weeds. I don’t see a gardener. Let’s keep going.”
The first man said, “We cannot agree, but we must not split up. Let us compromise. Let us look for a while and wait for a while. Perhaps we will find the gardener or perhaps he will return. If not, we will go on.”
Well, whose side are you on? This little story illustrates one of the greatest religious and philosophical questions of all human history. Is there a God, and if so, is he a good God? Some say, “No, we don’t see any God, and besides, look at all the bad things in the world. How could a good God allow all that?” That is like the second man in the story saying, “I don’t see a gardener, and look at all the weeds.” Others throughout history have said, “I don’t understand why there is so much suffering, but I am amazed at all the goodness, and the order and complexity and wonder of creation. There has to be a Creator God.” Christians are, of course, in this group and are represented by the first man in the story.
Most people, if lost in the woods, would agree with the first man in the story. A well-organized garden like that, even if full of weeds, would obviously have been planted by someone. And certainly, the wondrous complexity of our world and universe leads me to the same conclusion. Take even a small part of creation; an eye which is standard equipment for countless creatures, the photosynthesis going in every day in every leaf of every tree on the planet, the instinct of birds that fly south to the exact same location every year, a heart, a brain, or any one cell. In each there is an incredible complexity that demands the belief that Someone put it all here.
Questions remain, of course. Right after the big question of whether or not there is a God, comes the question of why is there so much pain and suffering in this otherwise wonderful world. Those are the unexplained weeds in the garden.
It is easy to dismiss a few weeds in a clever illustration. It is not as easy to dismiss the pain and suffering of a five-year-old little girl dying of cancer, or the million-billion other miseries and torments experienced by every human being that has ever lived, along with all the animals. There are insights and partial answers in the Bible, but no complete answer, and nothing that will take away the pain of this sad life that we all must endure.
We cannot explain the evil we see all around us; but without reference to God, we cannot explain everything else. And so I believe; even in the darkness of this wicked world, I believe in God.
And, I believe God is good. Think again about the illustration. The first man offered a compromise. “Let’s wait and see if the gardener returns,” he said. The Bible tells us that the One who put this wonderful world here has returned to it. God has visited His creation in the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
In every little corner of creation, we see the work of God’s hand; it is in the order and complexity and beauty of everything around us. In Jesus, we see God in person, ruling over nature, commanding storms to stop, diseases to leave, and restoring sight to the blind. In him, even nature’s power of death has to give way to new life.
We must live this life among weeds, but we must not look only at the weeds. There is a gardener and without him, we remain lost. With him, we have life, now and forever.
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John 1:1-5…9-14 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
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THIS IS MY FATHER’S WORLD
by Maltbie Babcock (1858-1901)
This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas–
His hand the wonders wrought…
This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!
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