Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK

“God is Fair – Life is Not!”
"Then you will understand what is right and just and fair--every good path." – Proverbs 2:9

Without getting too wordy or redundant – everything this verse is telling us is that the longer we remain faithful and hold to The Word of God and to The Ways of God the more we will come to understand with a greater effectiveness what this life is all about. Who God is and how much He truly loves us.
We will also discover that though life is not fair, God is! We discover that people will betray us – hurt us – say and do things that seek to destroy us – but God remains true! And if our eyes are on Him and not what people do or say or what happens to us as a result of life’s circumstances—then the impact of those things will not be as severe.
If life were fair there would be no such thing as disease, poverty, war, divorce, or even death. We would not know grief for there would be no disappointments – no let downs or put-downs. If life were fair your favorite team would always win—you would always have plenty of funds to pay your bills and your refrigerator would always be filled with your favorite foods. If life were fair all of us would be able to live in wealth – have what we want when we want it and/or need it. Just think of the possibilities! However, we know from experience that this is not how it is.
In his book, Disappointment With God, Philip Yancey tells the story of man named “Douglas.” After several years of training in Psychotherapy, he had declined a lucrative career in favor of beginning an urban ministry. Unfortunately, his wife developed cancer and Douglas was left doing many of the household chores while holding down two jobs. Then one night, while traveling down a city street with his wife and twelve-year-old daughter a drunk driver crossed over the median crashing head-on with their car. Their daughter received several lacerations and his wife a broken arm. But it was Douglas who received the worst of the injuries. He received some severe head injuries and was in the hospital for three weeks. The injuries were also permanent. He suffered from sudden and painful headaches. Once an avid reader – his eyesight prevented him from reading for more than a few minutes at a time. His short-term memory was affected. From all appearances, any attempt to develop a ministry was now gone. And the man who hit them? He was just fine. Besides spending a few days in a prison cell – physically he did not receive a scratch. Yancey interviewed Douglas and asked him to respond to this: “Tell me about your disappointment with God.” To that Douglas responded: “To tell you the truth Philip, I cannot say I am disappointed with God at all. My wife getting cancer…the accident…anything that happens to us in this (physical) life has absolutely nothing to do with the love of God. I am disappointed that my plans have changed but I do not blame God for that. One thing I learned long ago and it has given me great freedom during events such as this – do not confuse God with life. What we mistakenly label ‘acts of God;’ natural disasters, diseases, accidents, are in reality, ‘acts of life’ and to credit or discredit God for any of these is dangerous to our spiritual health. God loves me! To think differently because my life did not turn out as I had planned would be destructive to not only my belief system – but to all that Christ wants to form in my life.”
What Solomon I think is attempting to say is that God cares about what we think about Him, and to be careful to not equate our problems of life with His love. God loves us…and that is all we need to know!
Pastor J. T. Carnell.