“But it’s not fair!”

It’s usually something you hear from a child when some great injustice has been placed upon them, something like having to go to bed while others stay up, or getting a perceived smaller piece of cake than a sibling.

But truth be told, sometimes it’s the grown-ups who say it. Oh, maybe we don’t stamp our feet and cry and carry on, but somewhere deep in our hearts, we say it. And sometimes we say it to God.

We believe that life isn’t fair, that God treats others differently than us, that He blesses some and withholds blessing from others. We toy with the idea that He’s placed some great injustice upon us.

And apparently, mankind has had this tendency for some time.

Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair”. Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair and your ways which are not fair?” Ezekiel 18:25

I’ve thought those words. I’ve always tried not to dwell on them, tried not give Satan a foothold. I know that if I linger on the “unfairness” of life, I’ll begin to doubt the goodness of God. But sometimes the “it’s not fair” slips through. I look at the blessings others have, I remember how long I’ve waited for some prayers to be answered, I think that others have an easier road to travel than I do.

And in doing so, I forget that God’s ways are higher than my ways, His knowledge is limitless, His wisdom so much better than mine.

I’ve always loved the end of the book of Job, where after Job’s friends have gone on and on about what they think Job has done wrong to deserve his misery and how they think he can fix it, God steps up and puts them all in their place.

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determines its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with its doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; when I said, “This far you may come, but no farther and here your proud waves must stop!” (Job 38:4-11)

In other words, God knows exactly what He’s doing, and for us to question it or question Him or think we know better is silly and ignorant indeed. God’s ways are fair and if I am His child, His ways are for my good and my growth.

And there’s nothing unfair about that.

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Romans 9:20

The LORD is righteous in her midst,
He will do no unrighteousness.
Every morning He brings His justice to light;
He never fails,
But the unjust knows no shame. Zephaniah 3:5