The moment I mentioned that I was from a local church, Mrs Stark expressed immediate anger. Standing in her doorway she told me in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in God or, “any of you people who say you believe in Him!” Not only was this the voice of an angry woman but more importantly, I heard the voice of a hurting woman.
So I remained silent as I looked at Mrs Stark, giving her my full attention. Then she told me that her father and twenty-four year old son were both recently killed while on holiday in Germany and, “it’s just not fair!” I responded by saying that I agreed with her, but said also, “Nothing in life is fair. It wasn’t fair that Germany’s Hitler killed six million Jews either.”
I believed that this was a response from God, because now I immediately had her silence and attention. Mrs Stark was essentially blaming God for this family tragedy, so I used my brief time with her to share the love of God – a love which she could experience for herself anytime she, “chose to believe God and trust His Son Jesus Christ.”
I further explained that if she would take the time to study the nature and character of God and His love towards us in Christ, as it is revealed to us in the gospels, she would very quickly see for herself, that God’s unconditional love towards us is not fair either, because we just don’t deserve it. I said she would see, “that it’s not fair that Jesus Christ came down into our world to die in our place on a cross for our offences towards a holy God, but He did it anyway.”
Mrs Stark nodded in agreement when I told her there was no death (separation from God) in eternity for all who receive Christ. She said she knew something of the gospel of Christ because she was once a Sunday school child. She was apologetic for her outburst, but I encouraged her forget about it and look to Christ and re-establish herself in a relationship with Him. She said that she may attend services again at a church a few streets from her home.
A young lady in her early thirties told me she too rejected all religions, God, Christ and the Bible. She said she used to be a practicing Catholic, “but not anymore.” This sad, hurting lady was totally anti-Christ. She said she lost her nineteen year-old cousin through illness some months earlier, so, “how could a loving God let that happen?” It’s a common question from those who suffer such tragedies, but in my experience I have found far too many people unwilling to hear what God has to tell us about the fact of death.
They simply do not want to hear the word of God, who tells us that there is a time appointed for each one of us to die, and that none of us are told how or when that time will come. It is their preference to remain in bitterness and blame God, rather than see and embrace His solution to the problem. The young lady listened as I shared some gospel promises of comfort and peace for her hurting self, plus the gift of eternal life, but she simply refused to receive. She walked away.
Freedom of choice has been given to all and God will not violate our choices. But given that this is so, there was nothing more He could do for that lady. Her situation will remain unchanged until she sees the need for change. It is not up to God from here on in, it is up to her.
I knocked on the door of an elderly Greek couple and the husband answered. As we spoke I could hear his wife yelling at me to go away. She thought I was a Jehovah Witness. Their twenty year old son had joined the J W’s. The husband told me that some time ago during some home renovations, part of the ceiling fell down on their son, his photograph on the wall fell down also and it cut the telephone cable.
He apparently had an argument with his parents over this, plus the fact that he was now a J W, so he got into his car and drove away in anger. He crashed the car and was killed. The husband then invited me inside for a cup of tea and we sat and talked in another room. He informed me that his wife was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, she was also riddled with arthritis and she was weeping and wailing. The grief in the home was very heavy.
Although he said they were Greek Orthodox practitioners, neither he nor his wife appeared to know the reality of Jesus Christ from personal experience. There were religious pictures and statues in the rooms but, as God Almighty Himself through Isaiah the prophet tells us in the Scriptures about such things, “they are profitable for nothing.” The truth of this was evident that day. He shared his doubts as to the existence of God after their tragedy, so I encouraged him to choose to believe and find the reality of Jesus Christ for himself and lead his wife to Him as well.
Another lady told me she used to attend church as a child, but, “now I don’t believe there is a God.” She told me her son-in-law was murdered four years earlier. He was a soldier and was coming home in a train when he got into a fight. Someone pulled a knife and killed him. Then she spoke about the injustice of this as it related to God, the legal system and the welfare system.
The man’s wife had not had any compensation to date and there seemed to be nothing but, “delay after delay.” Then the lady asked me why was the world so bad, followed by, “it’s just not fair!” I gave her my answers according to Jesus’ warnings in the gospels where we read that, as people turn away from God, there will be an increase of wickedness, violence and lawlessness all over the world and, “the love of many will grow cold.” That’s a fact of life – but a fact of our own making.
God Almighty did not create the problems human beings find themselves enduring and suffering, but He provided the Solution. His Solution is His Son Jesus Christ. Most human beings reject Jesus Christ as God’s Solution, therefore, the problems go on. It was sad to observe the realities of this biblical truth and the effects it had on people such as these mentioned in this post.
My life did not even begin to work for me until I allowed Jesus Christ to reveal and then deliver me from my unrealities. It was only when I began to let Him do so, did I begin to see the futility of blaming God for all life’s tragedies. When I began to experience the limitless blessings that He waited to pour out upon such a one as undeserving as myself, clearly I saw that, “it’s just not fair.” But I embraced them anyway and continue to do so. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.” Psalm 46:1-3.
Fairness is a concept built into us from a young age, but the expectation that life should be fair can stop us from meeting the Lord in the situations we find ourselves in. God didn’t create fairness but He did provide a way for us to meet and know Him through His Son. I’d rather know Him and find His life in all circumstances than struggle with the question of fairness.