There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores. Luke 16:19,20
In her adolescent years, our daughter’s favourite complaint was ‘It’s not fair!’ She never seemed to tire of reminding us of the unfairness of each situation that arose. And she was right, so much of what occurs to us and around us seems so unfair. We see it every day, as good people suffer while bad people prosper, as innocent people get the blame for guilty people’s crimes, as unfairness of all kinds is so apparent. In our text, for example, we see one man with far more comforts than he could even enjoy, and far more food than he could even eat, all the best of life flowing around him, while only a few meters away lay a man devoid of all comfort, starving for food, and pathetic in his painful sores. How unfair! How shameful of society to let such inequality exist! But move on just a few short verses and look at how the tables are turned. The man who had nothing good is relaxing in eternal comfort and plenty, while the man with a bountiful table is screaming incoherently in eternal thirst and scorching flames. What is fair now?
Our text reminds us of David in Psalm 73 as he beheld the prosperity of the wicked and wondered at the unfairness of it all. It was not until he entered the sanctuary of God that he understood their end. He was able to see God’s perspective. It also reminds us of the words of Abraham in Genesis 18:25: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? What can appear to you and me to be unfair is simply our extremely limited grasp of the situation. The God Who knows the end from the beginning makes no mistakes and is unfair to none. Actually, none of us deserves anything good from God at all because of our rebellion and sinfulness, so God is being more than fair to us in blessing us at all!
The world will complain about unfair situations all the time, and as Christians, we need to beware lest we fall into the same trap. The Word of God will help us to maintain God’s perspective on all the apparently unfair situations. We need to leave these situations with God, because we don’t really know whether the situation is one person’s fault or another’s. We don’t know what purposes God is working in allowing some people to enter into sickness or trouble. The world reacts impulsively and often unwisely to such situations, but we need to commit these things to God, and trust Him to do what is right.
No, it may not seem fair what is happening around us. But how do we know for sure? Leave it with God to work it out. -Jim MacIntosh