The question pulses through my days like a tension headache, pounding my temples relentlessly: Can I trust a God who is not fair?
1. God Never Said He was Fair
He isn’t fair. He isn’t. I feel betrayed when I look at the state of this world and everything I’ve believed about Him until I realize with the force of a sledgehammer that God never said He was fair.
God is not fair, nor does He try to be.
2. But, He is good. Always Good
Perennially faithful and righteous. He is all seeing, all knowing, and filled with both grace and truth. He misses nothing. No one is getting away with anything. Somehow, I’ve tangled all that goodness and righteousness up into a god of my own imagination. One who claims to be fair, but isn’t. I feel ashamed of my own faulty assumption, and then move on to the looming question: can a God who is not fair, also be good? Isn’t fairness kind of the same thing as goodness and rightness?
Actually, no. Fair means everyone gets treated the same. The same circumstances, the same life, the same everything. But there is no choice in that. No free will. No self-determination. No chance for change, ever. It actually sounds pretty awful, now that I think about it. It is a terrible beauty that allows us the choice to live as we want. If I was God, I wouldn’t have the guts.
3. If God is Good (and I believe He is), then Giving Everyone the Same and Equal is Not Good
It occurs to me in my short experience as a mother, that the same discipline works differently on each of my children. They respond differently based on personality and maturity level. One needs time outs, another needs to be cuddled and talked to, and the youngest needs to be distracted. Treating them the same doesn’t work, and it doesn’t respect their individuality. We don’t all need the same thing. It wouldn’t even be good for us.
