A Finite Perspective on Fairness

     So I've reached Job 23.  This is one tough book.  I did some background reading on the book of Job to try and get some better understanding on the themes of the book and the overall purpose and I found some good stuff.  I think there are several "take home" points for this book and God can certainly meet each of us in a special way in through Job.  The biggest take home point for me has been the sovereignty of God.


     I think the topic of sovereignty is one that, like the book of Job itself, can prove to be somewhat uncomfortable to our minds, and our pride, on some occasions.  Many of the questions that I had in my earlier post are clear examples of how the sovereignty of God was not meshing well with what I perceived as fair.  Fair.  Now that's an interesting notion.  There is not one bit of this book so far that seems fair.  But what is fair?  Who determines fair?  Sure I can say that something isn't fair, but my conclusions would be based on incomplete, finite wisdom.  Therefore, just because I deem something unfair from my perspective doesn't always mean that's the case.  Let me illustrate my point.  When I was a little kid and I wanted to go to a party with some friends my parents would always ask, "will there be adults there?".  If the answer was no, I wasn't allowed to go.  Now all my friend's parents were letting them go so to my 15 year old mind, that was not fair that I couldn't go.  However, I was reasoning from a 15 year-old's very finite wisdom.  My parents had many years of experience and maturity that I did not have and therefore, while them not allowing me to go to the party seemed unfair to me, at my parent's more experienced and higher level of reasoning that rejection was serving as protection for me, although I couldn't see it at the time.

     The same is true for God.  What may seem unfair to us, may be the means to a higher, more holy end than we can perceive in our minds.  Think about it.  How many times do we look back at struggles and trials in our lives that, at the time, didn't seem very fair only to realize that God had a beautiful plan for our lives that would not have been possible without that trial.  That's what I'm getting at.  What we reason as unfair, may have larger implications on a heavenly level.  God is sovereign.  He operates from a wisdom that FAR exceeds human minds.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:9


    It's not comfortable sometimes to think that God is sovereign over us and that He may allow something "unfair" to happen in our lives that we can do nothing about.  I think we can see that Job even thought the same thing.  However, as Christians we are to trust the Lord and trust that in ALL things He is working for the good of those who love Him.

"For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." -Jeremiah 29:11

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

     It is not our place to instruct God how to work in our lives or determine what is a fair or unfair action on His part.  We are the created and NOT the Creator...and we do well to remember that!