God has a plan for this world.

A plan that has existed before the foundation of the world. Before anything was created, God had a plan. God’s plan involves Him dealing with evil.

If you don’t believe God has a plan, look at His prophecies and promises throughout Scripture. Look and see how He has fulfilled them.

God has a plan. A plan He is bringing to fruition. A plan that will not be thwarted.

Hard to Believe

That might be hard to believe, because our best laid plans. They don’t always work out. If you are a parent, especially of young kids, you know this to be true. You might have an entire day planned out. You are going to get out of the house with the kids. Head to park. Wear them out a bit. Then run a few errands before stopping at the grocery store to pick up some food to cook that evening for your friends that are coming over.

You have full day but you have it all planned out. You are getting ready to go. Your kids are being quiet. You can’t believe they are being quiet and letting you get ready. Then you think, maybe they are being a little too quiet. You walk back to their room to check on them, and to your horror you find their new clothes you just dressed them in covered in paint. Then you see hand prints all over the wall.

Guess what you are doing that day? You aren’t going to park. You aren’t running errands. You might make it to the grocery store, but most likely you are ordering pizza for your friends that are coming over, if you don’t just throw your hands up and cancel your plans altogether.

Our best laid plans don’t always work out, but God’s do.

God is our Creator. He is the One who created you and I and the universe in which we live. He controls all things. He is the all-sovereign God. His plans don’t fail. He has a plan to deal with evil.

In the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, Jesus tells us when He will deal with evil.

In the parable Jesus tells us a story about a Farmer. He sows wheat on his own land. But the farmer has an enemy who comes at night and plants weeds in his field.

The weeds that his enemy plants are what is known as Darnel. Darnel closely resembles wheat. At first, they look identical. You can’t really tell the difference until the wheat matures. Only then can you tell that the weeds weren’t wheat but weeds because there was no head — no fruit.

What we see then is that the bad crop grows alongside the good crop. As it grows their roots intertwine with one another. The weeds end up soaking up all the nutrients and moisture in the soil. It stunts the growth of the wheat so that it doesn’t produce as it would have if the darnel hadn’t been planted in the first place.

Once you are able to tell the field was infested with darnel, you couldn’t pull the weeds up because of the intertwined roots. If you did, you would end up pulling up the wheat crop, so the farmer tells his servants to allow the weeds to exist among the wheat until the harvest. At the harvest the darnel would be gathered out and burned while the wheat was put in the barn.

When Jesus returns, those who are evil will be gathered up and burned in the fire.

“Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt 13:40–43)

Even though evil is allowed to continue in the world, judgment is coming.

When Jesus returns, all those who are not His disciples: All those who haven’t repented of their sin. Who don’t recognize He is the Messiah. That He is the One who provides them with salvation. All those who don’t call Him Lord will face judgment.

For now, Jesus allows His disciples to live in the world among those who are evil. Those who are evil do evil things. We have seen that on the news regarding Afghanistan. People are being oppressed, beaten, and even killed. 13 soldiers and over 160 civilians lost their life because evil people decided to set off a bomb. Evil exists in the world. We live among it every day.

But Jesus promises us that evil won’t continue forever. One day, He will deal with it. Those who are not in His kingdom will be judged and the world will be purged of evil. But that won’t happen now. It will only happen when Jesus returns.