When Life's Not Fair
Sometimes life isn’t fair. It doesn’t go how we expect it to, and often it’s due to circumstances out of our control. One of the biggest truths of life, though, is that it is indeed not always fair — and the Bible acknowledges this fact. It’s easy to ask where God is in all of the unfairness, but know that He is always working for our good. When life feels unfair, we need to fill ourselves with faith (Psalm 13:1-2; 1 Samuel 18:6-9). Even when life is unfair, we can still choose to live a life of integrity that’s pleasing to God (1 Samuel 24:1-13). When we feel things are unfair, we need to fight the right things, and it’s often not the thing that we think is the source of our injustice. First, we must fight the myopia of the moment, the moments when we feel like things are never going to change. When we do this, we avoid only looking at the here and now of what’s in front of us. Instead, we should keep our eyes on the horizon at what God is doing (2 Corinthians 4:18). Second, we must fight the gravitational pull of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15). Third, we should fight to not take God’s plan into our own hands (1 Samuel 26:8-11). This means trusting that God’s plan will work out, because God’s blessings come in God’s ways. Last, fight to hold onto God’s mercy instead of getting angry and cynical (Psalm 57).
2) Where in my life do I have a narrow field of vision? How can I expand it and look to the horizon instead?
3) How can I combat the negative feelings that arise when things in life aren’t going well?