Things go wrong & bad things happen. Life isn’t fair. But what is fair anyway? We all have an innate sense of fairness from the time we’re little kids complaining about some slight, real or imagined. When sister gets a bigger piece of cake than me, “Hey, that’s not fair!” When brother gets to stay up past bedtime 3 minutes longer than I do, “No fair!” We all appeal to some external law of “fairness” because God has written on our consciences a basic sense of right & wrong (Rom. 2:6-16).
But being treated fairly doesn’t mean we all get treated the same regardless of merit. To be treated fairly means to receive what we deserve. Children understand this, too. They know it’s fair when the kid who does his homework receives an “A” while the kid who goofs around flunks. The kid who behaves gets rewarded, the kid who misbehaves gets punished. But sometimes the kid who plays fair & square loses, while the kid who cheats wins. That’s not fair.
Sometimes we clearly go through difficulties because of our own mess-ups. Our own wrongful actions introduce adversity into our lives as we reap what we sow.
Perhaps the oldest book in the Bible is Job, which deals with this age-old problem. Job was the best person of his day, & seemed to get the painless prosperity that he deserved…until he didn’t. He suddenly lost everything. Job’s “friends” attributed his misfortunes to something deserved, that he’d brought it on himself. But Job cried out, “Not fair!” Though he didn’t understand, he didn’t lose His faith despite his circumstances.
Jesus declared that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). We can’t escape troubles because we live in a fallen world made unfair due to the consequences of sin. We’re all scarred by the effects of a corrupted world system that God never intended. He gave our primeval progenitors the ability to choose obedience or disobedience with their accompanying blessings or cursings. So both good & bad things happen regardless of merit. Eating the forbidden fruit introduced frustration into the good order God created.
Sometimes, adversity isn’t the indirect result of a fallen world, but is directly due to fallen angels. Satan personally instigated the misery that Job endured. He was singled out for attack precisely because He was doing right. It reminds us not to equate good fortune with God’s favor. Demons are active in the unseen realms, utilizing temptation & deception to cause us trouble precisely because we’re image bearers of the Most High. And if we oppose these spiritual enemies through righteous behavior, we put a bullseye on our own backs.
Other good people in the Bible received unfair treatment. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den. John was exiled to an island. Their attitude is reflected in what Joseph said to his brothers in the closing verse of Genesis “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Gen. 50:20). No matter the reasons for experiencing hardships, we can rest confidently in the promise that God will work through our circumstances for our good & His glory (Rom. 8:28, 2 Cor. 12:9-10).
We don’t have to make ourselves perpetual victims by dwelling on the perceived unfairness of it all. Through Christ, we are victors, not victims. We can rise above our circumstances & not let them control us. Some things we can’t change, but we can change how we react to them.
We may cry out, “Why me, Lord? Can you give me a break?! All I ask is that you treat me fairly!” You might want to rethink that because if God treated us as we deserve, we’d really be in trouble. God is more than fair! “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Ps. 103:10).
When things go wrong, we can look to the cross because it reminds us that no matter what goes wrong, we’re right with God, & that’s what really matters. It reminds us of a love so great that He laid down His life in our place to receive what we deserved – the most unfair treatment ever (2 Cor. 5:21, Is. 53:5)!
Scripture tells us that good will triumph over evil, that Paradise will be restored even better than before, that one day all things will be set right. Hard times come, but God offers us a confident hope beyond this world. Better than mere optimism or positive thinking, He gives us a confident expectation that He will fulfill His promises.
If you’re not going through hard times now, be grateful. But also be prepared because you will. There’ll come a day when your faith may be shaken to the core. Don’t be surprised. But the sun is still shining even when you can’t see it. And the same sun that melts wax hardens clay. So, how will you respond to it?