When Life isn’t Fair

I’m so quick to judge God.

Why do kids get cancer?

How can He stand world hunger?

Why isn’t there peace in the middle east?

Where is my plow guy?

It’s all God’s fault. The economy is too dry. The value of my house has dropped. The ER is too slow. You name it, I blame Him. I wasted my money on eharmony, God still hasn’t provided a date. Where is He when it matters? Why does He remain quiet?

Do you ever feel that way? You’re being wronged and no one seems to be fighting for you. Who’s to blame? Oh, yeah, God is. He’s an easy target. After all, you believe He could do something about it if He really wanted to.

I’m spending my mornings in the book of Genesis these days. I got to thinking about Joseph. If anyone had it bad, it was Joseph. His brothers beat him and sold him to their enemies the Egyptians as a slave. Just when things started looking better for Him, he gets accused of rape. He gets thrown in prison.

Life is dark when you’re in prison. Hope is far. God seems gone. What do you do when life isn’t fair?

Remember these lessons from the life of Joseph:

• Don’t judge God by how others treat you. Joseph’s brothers couldn’t have been more wrong. They were evil. They were liars. It would have been easy to hate them. But Joseph understood that just because people are mean doesn’t mean God is. Joseph never lost sight that God had a plan. Years later Joseph would stand at Pharoah’s right hand and have every opportunity to hurt his brothers; instead, he loved them. You can love your enemies too.

• Don’t judge God when you’re tempted to sin. It’s a common story. You’re home alone. No one is watching. You could anything. You could watch anything. Potiphar’s wife lured Joseph. He could have yielded. He could have enjoyed a moment of pleasure. Who would have known? Joseph knew that God knew. It’s easy to blame God for our physical weaknesses when we fall into temptation. After all, He made us this way, didn’t He? Joseph refused to judge God in the face of sin. Instead, he ran. You can run too!

• Don’t judge God when your circumstances change. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Joseph would see a spectrum of circumstances in his early years. He was his father’s favored son, with a robe of many colors, only later to be thrown in a pit and sold as a slave. He would rise the ranks and become Potiphar’s main man, only to be later thrown into prison while wrongly accused. But whether in prison or the castle, Joseph understood that it was the same God who loved him steadfastly and cared for his life. It’s easy to think well of God when life treats you well, and to complain about Him when you’re in the dark. Take a tip from Joseph, and thank God no matter what.

• Don’t judge God when opportunities are lost. One of the worst episodes we see in the life of Joseph happens 2 years after he’s wrongfully thrown in prison. The king’s baker and butler make it to prison too. This is Joseph’s big break. He interprets a dream, his release is a sure thing. Except, the butler forgets. And the opportunity that Joseph has been desperately waiting for is gone. Have you been waiting for an opportunity, and just when it seemed to come, you saw it slip between your fingers? It’s easy to judge God for not making it work. Don’t! Instead choose to believe that God’s timing is perfect. Joseph would wait another 2 years, but this time he’s freed to be second to the King. Waiting is worth it when God runs your life.

• Don’t judge God when your dreams are broken. It all started in Genesis 37 when Joseph had a dream. It was a God given dream. He wasn’t trying to brag. He knew he was special, he knew God had a plan. But through the next decade every dream of Joseph’s would seem shattered and broken. Are you facing a season where dreams seem forgotten? Don’t accuse God of not caring. He does care. He’s working out the details and it will blow you away. It says in Habakkuk 2:3 that if the vision seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.

Will you believe that God has your back? Or will you judge Him today convinced all is bad?

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