It's Unfair

M. Scott Peck has one of the greatest, simple statements of the universe in his The Road Less Traveled:
'Life is difficult.'

From simple living, every person knows life is difficult; it doesn't matter what color your skin may be or what culture from which you originate - life can be hard and at times, it certainly is unfair.
This may be the most difficult question for Bible scholars and teachers to answer - 'why do things seem unfair.' 

Indeed. Why do babies die? They've done nothing wrong to be struck down.
Why do loving, dedicated husbands or wives lose their spouse to a lot lizard or playboy?
Why does an elderly Korean War vet get HIV from a blood transfusion?
I believe I can speak for a ministers and maybe all Christians when I say that 'why' is one of the most difficult questions to ever be answered accurately.

But we're not alone.
There are countless Biblical figures who found that life was unfair to them as well, even though they were supposed to be the 'chosen' of God.
To Esau, it was unfair that Jacob received the patriarchal blessing; but to God, it was the unfolding of His will on earth.
To Joseph, it wasn't right that he found himself in the bottom of a well; but to God, being sold as a slave was how He would orchestrate the survival of the Hebrew race and the nation of Israel.
And to Jesus, I'm quite certain it wasn't fair to Crucify Him on the Cross which bore my name of punishment; but to God, it was how He would reconcile lost humanity to Himself out of love.
From this, I have learned - if something doesn't make sense to me, that does not mean it doesn't make sense at all nor does it mean that it won't make sense in the future.
We just have to catch up spiritually to what God is doing.

The seeming unfairness we see from a Holy and Just God is no different in our lives than it was in the lives of the people of Scripture.
Simple proof of this statement can be found in a very common cuss word; this word has even seeped into the acceptability of prime time television.
The word 'God' quickly followed by the word 'Damn' clearly implies that we feel God should be doing a better job of running His universe. These sentiments are flowing through our minds because we are having a true crisis of faith - our belief does not match our reality at that point in time.

To solve this problem of the seeming unfairness of God - man has taken several steps.
One is to promote and believe the idea that God does not exist at all. The rationale is that if God existed, He would have the power and the concern to do something about the situation of the world and certainly about the unfair situations in His believers lives.
While this appeals to many intellectuals, the simple fact is that any rational person can see from nature that there is a Creative Design to the place we call home on this earth. 
In short, those that deny God would rather deny His existence than try to understand His ways because to understand Him deeper means there will be a struggle - and this struggle is not easy.
Simply put - they're just too lazy to pursue the God who has pursued them throughout their entire life.

Others try to solve the problem through religion - like Hindus and their concept of Karma. 
In their system, the world is fair - all things come back around appropriately.
While I would love to believe this, I know it is not true because you can't explain away a newborn's death nor the success of evil men.

In Christian thought it must be admitted that God Himself is far above our understanding of time; and this may very well be the key to understanding our position in a crisis or tragedy.
As humans, though we are the apex of God's creation, still - we can only function in the present. We can think of the past, we can contemplate the future; but we can only function in the present.
God, on the other hand, lives in what has been called 'The Constant Present.'

For example: To humans, God created the Universe in the past and there has been successive people, ages, generations and technological advancements to this day. 
To God, Creation happened followed by the Resurrection of the Saints and entrance into New Jerusalem.

For humans, with our limited view of eternity, even speaking of God's concept of time is hard to understand. Why would it be any easier to understand the purpose and nature of God's end goal with a trial or tragedy we may face?

You see, we focus way too much on what God can do on our behalf in the present.
Instead, we ought to be focusing in on what He has done and what He will do once the experience is complete and how He is going to use it for His glory.

Granted, only at the end of time will we as Christians be able to see as God sees; whether people, places, things or events - we will see things as He sees them because He is making us whole in Himself.

It will be on that day that we will finally understand all of who He is and what He has done; and then we will praise Him and shout His glory throughout the Universe.
Until then, if you are wondering why God is keeping you in the dark about some of things of the world or in your own personal life - the reason is because you and I are not able to absorb that much light in our present state.
On the last day, we will and on that day, we will understand.

Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in the future.
And isn't that what Christ has asked of us all along - to have faith in Him, trusting from this life to eternal life?

Until next time, try to win one for the good guys.