Have you heard the exasperated cry of someone suffering, “This just isn’t fair!” Have you lamented the injustices and evils of this world? Do you resonate with Job when he cries to God, “Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?” (Job 10:3 ESV).
God describes Job as “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1) and yet, he suffered tremendously…and lamented to God. When we suffer as mature believers and feel like life is unfair, we also must bring our real pain and honest cries to our Father as Job did.
Job could only “look forward” to his Redeemer as he wailed.
We now can look to our risen and alive Redeemer as we lament, remembering the gospel.
In our weakest moments, when the accuser attacks us as he did with Job, I think we must focus our thoughts on the gospel, for this is God’s pinnacle of “whatever is true” (Phil. 4:8) for us as Christians. The gospel is where God’s justice and fairness shine brightly. As Christians walking through suffering, let’s “think on” God’s justice and fairness, all centered on the gospel of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, as we battle the enemy’s attacks together.
God is just and fair
God says He is just and fair, in many places in the Bible. For example,
So, His actions and works are then also just and fair because “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4, emphasis added).
We know this, don’t we? Oh heart, may I listen to the gospel drumbeat!
I hear the Savior say,
“Your strength indeed is small,
child of weakness, watch and pray,
find in me your all in all.”
(“Jesus Paid It All,” Hall, E. M., 1865)
What if my just God is judging me in this suffering?
Our thoughts can also cringe under our accuser’s attack, “What if this suffering then is God’s judgment on me?”
Beloved in Christ, our just God must punish everyone’s inborn sin with His wrath (Rom. 1:18). He wouldn’t be just or fair if He didn’t, because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and “God is a righteous judge” (Ps. 7:11).
But this is why He gave us Jesus!
Jesus took all of the sin of believing Christians and experienced our Father’s just and fair wrath against sin, with its deserved punishment.
All of it.
On the cross, our Savior cried,
as God’s justice was served. He was forsaken by God as He paid the full debt owed to God, for your sin and mine.
What wondrous love is this, oh my soul!
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1, emphasis added).
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1, emphasis added).
Jesus paid it all,
all to him I owe;
sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow.
So our suffering is not God’s condemnation. Like any loving and good parent or teacher provides, He tells us it’s sometimes His discipline to help us learn something and correct us (Heb. 12:7-11). But God’s just wrath has been satisfied for us, by Christ. One of my favorite pastors reminds us as believers, “God is not mad at you.”
Sharing the gospel with others who are suffering
As global suffering worsens, we read of Christ’s return to judge all sin and we cringe for those who aren’t His. Because God is just and fair, His just wrath and fair punishment for sin is indeed coming. Time will finally be up on that day and unbelievers will cry to the mountains and rocks,
But we who are His will enjoy an eternal future when no more sin or injustice or pain or sorrow or troubles will ever exist again. We will be in the presence of our God forever!
And when, before the throne,
I stand in him complete,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
my lips shall still repeat.
Sisters in Christ, do you sense it? Doesn’t this seem to be a very special time for us…especially as we suffer? Especially when the enemy attacks us with “It’s not fair” or “I’m being judged.” No, we have gospel hope…and many others are rightly gripped with desperate fear, anger, and overwhelming hopelessness right now. They don’t know Jesus. But we do!
Lord, now indeed I find
your power and yours alone,
can change the leper’s spots
and melt the heart of stone.
Is God putting you in new situations, precisely because of your suffering journey, through which the light of Christ within you might be shining?
What good news to a scared soul who sees hopelessness everywhere…Jesus’ death and resurrection satisfied all of God’s just requirements!
What an undeserved gift of His grace toward us as sinners! For would what be “fair?”
You and I would be paying the death penalty for our inborn sin…not Jesus.
For nothing good have I
whereby your grace to claim–
I’ll wash my garments white
in the blood of Calvary’s Lamb
Praying and seeking our just and fair God in His Word
Who might you pray for to come to know Christ, as you walk through your pain? Or maybe, is He beckoning you closer to Himself? How could each day of your current suffering include a fresh understanding and rejoicing in the love of God for you in Christ, the good news of the gospel? Knowing God’s justice has been totally satisfied for your sin, by Jesus, what is He teaching you through this suffering?
Oh, our Lord is giving us so much to ponder, isn’t He? Here we are, in this special time of suffering we’re enduring right now, also in a globally hard time. Let’s both abide in His Word daily and He will teach us! God has a gospel-centered kingdom purpose for both of us, right now, in and through this suffering time!
Material adapted from Near to God: A Devotional Bible Study of God’s Character in Our Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle. Copyright © 2022, Singing Christ’s Hope.
Singing the gospel when I feel like things aren’t fair
I personally need gospel-centered, Christ-exalting songs every single day of this battle that suffering brings. I need to remember that “Jesus paid it all,” when the accuser daily attacks me as he did with Job. So I’ve professionally curated a playlist to sing the gospel to ourselves, especially on the hardest days when we feel like things aren’t fair.
I pray that these songs not only help us believe the gospel but will also infuse courage (and Scriptural lyrics) into our hearts so we can easily talk with others. I’ve also put a printable of gospel-focused Scriptures (also using the hymn, “Holy, holy, holy”) into the subscriber resource library, easily used when we talk with others. If this would bless you, sign up here and I will email the YouTube playlist to you so you can sing the gospel to yourself…and you can grab this printable and many resources in our library!
