TRUTH: Life is HARD.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’ve been handed situations that are beyond difficult.  Or I’ve watched a loved one suffer in a way I cannot fix.

At times, I’ve flat-out told God that I think he’s being unfair. 

Especially when I watch others thrive in an area where I or a loved one are struggling or lacking.

One day, while in the midst of such a grievance, God answered me with these words:

I am not an unfair God.

One can’t argue when God speaks.

But would you agree that sometimes he seems a bit unfair?

I’ve been reading through Job recently, studying this very thing.

And I’ve come to understand that the truth is, it’s not that God is unfair.  Often what looks like an injustice to us is really our inability to understand what he is up to.

Sometimes our lack, our loss, or our injustice has a greater, unseen purpose. 

Job was a man who God himself described as “the finest man in all the earth” (Job 1:8).  One whom he then allowed to lose everything of value.

Job lost his children, his livelihood, and his health. 

He was then repeatedly told by friends that he must have done something to deserve all of this.

Was that fair?  It didn’t seem so to him.  In fact, he never did understand why he suffered such injustices.

But without his suffering, and his enduring, you and I wouldn’t have the book of Job today to encourage us as we also navigate our trials.

I can only imagine Job arriving in Heaven later, with an “Ohhhh…. NOW I get it.” 

I imagine this will be the case for many of us too.

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!  – Romans 11:33

Though most of us would like to understand God’s WHY, often we are not given that privilege. 

What we ARE given is the charge to trust him through whatever he is asking of us, remembering that God works FOR us, and not against us.

A verse I cling to often for encouragement is Jeremiah 29:11 –

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This is a critical truth to embrace – ESPECIALLY when facing challenges that look and feel unfair.

Friends, God is sovereign.  His ways are perfect.  He is all-knowing, unchanging, loving, merciful, and kind.  And when he has a plan, no one can thwart it.

Our best bet is to submit to his plan and to trust that he will ultimately use it for our good.

Even in the midst of our lack or our struggles.

Let me give you a modern-day example.

A while back, I had a friend in my circle who, after years of living a typical life, suffered with chronic pain.  She was eventually wheelchair-bound. 

God knit us together for a season through circumstances in my own life.

Through peering in, he showed me mercies in her life that were unseen to most.

She shared with me how her pain had drawn her closer to God.  I watched her husband care for her deeply, and her daughter bond with her in ways that most moms of teenage girls would never know. 

And though her body was weak, her faith was strong. 

She trusted God, accepting his answer that this was his plan for her, and better yet, that he could still use her. 

Then from her wheelchair and her home, she continued in fellowship with others, and even in sharing the gospel through hosting a girls’ Bible Study, as God graciously brought people to HER.

It was hard for her, but still there was sweetness in the loss, joy in the pain, purpose in the suffering. 

And what I learned from her was to look up intently, and trust the process.

God had a plan for her, and God has a plan for you.

So let me ask you this… Is God unfair?

Though it may seem so at times, according to God’s word, the answer to this question is no. 

God is not unfair.  He is just.

He does whatever he knows to be right for each of us.  That might look different for you than it does for me.  And we have to learn to be okay with that.

Look at Matthew 5:45 –

For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

Sometimes our lack, our loss, or our suffering provides blessings that could be found in no other way.  Sometimes it refines us in ways that are necessary. 

And often, as in Job’s case, the purpose of our trial is known to God only. 

That’s when we need to remember that God is not singling us out.  He isn’t ignoring our pleas.  He’s not being cruel. 

He is simply working in ways we cannot understand. 

So friend, don’t fight him as you walk your path.  Take hold of his hand and ask him what he is trying to show you – what hidden mercies he has waiting for you. 

And ask him for strength to accept his will and his plan for you or your loved one.  

Then watch as Isaiah 61:3 begins to unfold within you:

To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.

God is not unfair.  He is a God of mercy.  And he is at work in your life.