No one said life was gonna be fair...

I have lived long enough to know that life isn't fair. Stuff happens, and sometimes there is no reason for it. People suffer for their sins and the sins of others. Pain is inherent in this fallen world. Yet even though I know that life isn't fair, it is still hard for me to watch people suffer who, in my personal opinion, have had more than their share of suffering in life while others skate by for years with barely a scratch on their souls. Case in point: my good friend Jen who has not had an easy life or a supportive family to walk with her through her many trials. She is getting married this weekend to a wonderful man, but even her wedding won't be crisis free. At the end of last week, her soon-to-be-husband lost the top joint on his right index and middle fingers. He was making Jen a jewelry box to surprise her and the electric saw severed those two joints. This event has created a ripple of difficulties that are all made worse by the fact that they are getting married this weekend and have the last minute wedding stress on top of everything else. And, to make matters even worse, she is living in California while most of her support network is here in the DC area. Talking with her yesterday broke my heart. In my opinion, she deserves to be happy and relaxed for at least a little while given everything else that has happened in her life. But that is just my opinion, and as Jim Carrey learned in Bruce Almighty, it easy for us to tell God how to do His job, but it's another thing for us to actually see what would happen if we had our way all the time.

I know that in even the worst of crises, God is always working for good (Romans 8:28). He uses circumstances that we see as tragic for His glory. I also know that God expects more of some people (Luke 12:48) depending on what He's given them and that He uses our trials to mold us into better people (James 1:2-4). But even knowing all this, my sense of fairness is still vastly different from my Creator's. I guess this is all part of my limited vision. God sees the bigger picture; I see only what is in front of me. God knows the greater plan; I only know what I think the plan should be. I am insignificant; God is omnipotent, omniscent, and omni-present. Many modern theologians would say that God is raising some people up to be overcomers, and He will put those people through more fire than others in order to make them stronger for His Kingdom purposes. I am in no place to tell Him who He should test and try and who He should leave alone, nor am I in any place to tell Him what His timing should be in our trials. Yet sometimes I feel the temptation to cry out to Him and ask "WHY?!" I'm sure He gets that a lot from all His limited-vision creatures. Fortunately, He understands our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15) and is patient with our lack of understanding. He knows we will never comprehend the big picture until we see Him face to face, but He wants us to trust Him with the big picture anyway. Somedays this is more difficult than others.