God's Not Fair - Part 2

Introduction

In Part 1 of this series we looked at our concept of "fairness" which is framed by our sense of justice. We saw that God doesn't deal with us according to justice but according to His grace and mercy.
In this blog we will look at how our sense of "fairness" can be determined by time, including our very limited concepts of eternity.

Our concept of "fairness" often does not take time into account.
If you have ever had children, you know that they think that many things are not fair. It's not fair that they have to go to school, do homework, eat vegetables etc etc. But as parents we know how important these things are going to be to kids when they get older. We know that time will make these things beautiful in their lives.

The same is true with our heavenly Father. When we trust our lives to Him we must believe that He knows better than we do what will work out for our best.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "He has made everything beautiful in it's time". 
Think about it for a minute. Have you ever gone through a painful experience which, in time, God turned into something of great beauty and strength? God has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). A plan to bless us and not harm us. A plan to give us a future and a hope. Isn't this what we would plan for our own children? Even though at times they may think that we are "not fair".

God promises to make everything work out for our good.
Romans 8:28 says " And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."  (NLT). Even when people make mistakes and seem to mess up God's plan for us, God promises that, in time, He will make everything work out for our good.


What about Eternity?
I recently went the funeral of a little five year old girl who was born with cerebral palsy. Despite everyone's best efforts she went home to be with Jesus. The family were all believers and spoke at the funeral about the fact that, at the time, they could not understand how God could have allowed their beautiful little girl to be born with this disability. Not only that, God did not heal her when they knew that He had the power to do so. It would be easy to conclude that "God's not fair".


However they went on to talk about how this little girl had enriched their lives so much. How her brothers and sisters and grandparents just adored her. In just five short years she touched the hearts of so many people. They also talked about the fact that they knew that she was now in heaven and no longer had any pain, sickness or disability. They knew that the next time they saw her that she would be whole.


As believers, there may be things that happen in life that we just do not have any answers for. The untimely death of a loved one, sickness or disability that does not get healed, financial difficulty through no fault of our own etc. We may ask God why and seem to get no real answer in this life. However God sees things from an eternal perspective.  Read Luke 16:19-26. I wonder if Lazarus ever thought "God's not fair". I am sure that he did. However when he got to paradise everything changed. The Psalmist also struggled with these thoughts and declared the same in Psalm 73. Jesus in fact spoke about how difficulties like persecution can really add to our eternal reward and that we should be happy about this! (See Matthew 5:11&12)

Conclusion
Just as children need to mature in their understanding about what's fair, as believers we need to move beyond thinking that God's not fair and start trusting Him in every circumstance. God has a plan for us that stretches on into eternity. Some things become beautiful in earthly time and others only in heaven. One thing is for sure, God is on the throne and He will ultimately work everything out for your benefit and eternal joy.

Study Guide
* Read Ecclesiastes 3:11.
   What things in your life has God made beautiful "in it's time"?
   What are the things in your life right now that you are trusting Him to make beautiful?
* Read Romans 8:28.
   Share one thing that God has made work out for your good.
   How does recalling this help you to trust God to make ALL things work for your good?
*Read Luke 16:19-26
  What does this story say to you about the following areas -
  Eternity
  The plight of the poor
  Our response to the poor
* Read Psalm 73
   Have you ever felt like this Psalmist?
   What was it that made the Psalmist change his mind (see verse 17)
   How should an understanding of eternity affect our everyday lives?
* Read Matthew 5:11&12
   How is it possible to actually be happy about persecution?