Tag: not fair

The Righteous Judge

Job 20-21

Psalm 98

James 2

-Devotion by Makenna Landry (MN)

Key passage: “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together, before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.” Psalm 98:8-9 (ESV)

Psalm 98 is a psalm of praise. It sings great thanksgiving to God recognizing God’s good works and His never ending love. It ends with the reminder that God will judge the world with righteousness and fairness. 

Christians today, and across time, have been considered judgmental. Christians hold to the moral standards Scripture teaches and tries to hold others to the same moral standards. This in my own life has come across to people as overly innocent, stuffy, fake-y, and judgemental. I distinctly remember when I told a fellow classmate in my early years of elementary school that he should follow the rules because it shows respect to the adults. He did not agree with me, calling me all of the things I listed above. Needless to say, the years of elementary school he and I were never on good terms because he continued to do the wrong thing and I continued to try to correct him. He viewed me as judgmental and too proper and I was always annoyed that he refused to do the right thing. 

Thank the LORD that it is not on me to judge his actions. I think that’s the sentiment behind this psalm. God is the ultimate judge and He does so with great fairness. He has set forward a path to righteousness and He draws the lines on who will receive the reward of the kingdom and who will not. If I could tell my younger self to just let it go, it would have been a much more enjoyable time in my life. 

There are times that we might thank God for being the perfect judge, while other times we might question it like Job questions in Job 21. 

Zophar reminds Job of the downfall of pride and reminds Job of the importance of carrying for the needy. Job’s response is one filled with questions and a complete lack of reflection on himself. He instead looks outward towards the wicked people. He wonders why they would be receiving so much and living a healthy, long, prosperous life. Zophar stated evil faced death but Job turns it around on Zophar pointing to the sinful individuals living happily around them. This brings into question God’s judgment. Is he truly a righteous and fair judge when Job, a godly man, suffered while evil men had riches?

At that moment, Job couldn’t see the full picture of God’s judgment. He saw the moment he was living in and how unfair that single moment felt. 

Do you have moments like that? I know I do, as do my kids. 

When I was in high school, my younger sibling was being homeschooled while I had to attend public school. At the time I would have said it felt like the boils Job experienced with how much I disliked public school. It felt unfair to have to get up at 5:30 every morning and get home at 3 just to do homework all night when my brother could sleep in and finish with school before the rest of us were home. 

As an adult, I can recognize how that was better for both of us. Our learning styles and career paths were different so we needed different schooling. But in the moment, I felt like Job was pointing to other people and thinking that it wasn’t fair they had what he wanted. That phrase the grass is always greener in someone else’s yard was how I felt. Even four year olds feel this!

My four year old has started saying the phrase “that’s not fair”. It has blown me away how early children build that phrase into their vocabulary thinking they are owed some sort of evenness with their parents, siblings, and friends. Sometimes we look down on Job for having that perspective or on others when they ask why good things happen to everyone but me. 

What are some times in your life that you’ve questioned the fairness of life? 

In those times, we can remember that God’s fairness isn’t for this life but the life to come. His judgement is on our actions, attitudes, and beliefs during the trials of life. It’s for a glorious, perfect, eternal kingdom and not for the 80 years we are here on earth. 

This brings the question, what is God looking for? How do we find ourselves in a place that we can praise God for being the perfect judge instead of viewing life as unfair?

That’s where James comes in! 

James chapter two is really what the book of James is known for. It speaks on the fact that our faith should spur on our actions in order to live a righteous life. Simple belief doesn’t make us righteous. Belief is the first step to a life committed to God. James expands on what to do once you take the step of belief. 

He does this by pointing to Abraham and Rahab. For some background, Abraham is considered the founder of faith and a righteous man that we all want to strive to be like. His faith spurred him towards countless times of obedient action. The first was moving away from his home, family, and all that he knew to travel to a foreign land. During those travels he obeyed God at almost every turn. No one can claim perfect, not even Abraham, but his failures don’t define him. Instead his times of obedience do. James specifically points to Genesis 22. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac was Abraham’s only son with his wife Sarah. Isaac was a long awaited promise who took Abraham and Sarah many years to conceive. He was God’s promises fulfilled for Abraham and the other promises God had made rested on the shoulders of Isaac. Yet, Abraham was still obedient. His actions marked his righteousness. The same goes for Rahab. She risks everything to hide the Israelite spies in Jericho. 

But how do we show our faith? 

Living in the United States in the 2020s doesn’t give a lot of opportunities to help hide God’s spies, discover new lands, or sacrifice everything. Some of the things Abraham did would even be extremely frowned upon in today’s society!

We can be thankful for the book of James once again. It shows that faith looks like helping others, showing fairness to everyone around us and other key ways to have our faith displayed in every aspect of our lives that we will read in the days to come. 

God is our good, righteous, and fair judge. We can bring Him glory, honor, and praise through our actions towards those around us. Instead of judging others like in the story I shared from my past, we should show them love and kindness, helping when they are in need, and treating all people with respect and dignity. 

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

How can you remind yourself to trust in God’s judgment?

How can you praise God each day for what He has blessed you with even if the grass seems greener somewhere else?

What is one way you can show your faith to someone today?

PRAY:

Dear God, thank You for Your righteous judgment. Thank You for the Biblical examples You have gifted the world to show me how to be righteous. Heal my heart from judgement of those around me and replace it with a heart of love and kindness. Place in my life a way to show someone Your love today and open my eyes to the needs of those around me. Amen

Makenna Landry, née Cisler, an ABC graduate of 2021, is a licensed pastor of the Church of God General Conference working to service God by teaching His word and supporting His people through all aspects of life. She has two children, a passion for helping people, and loves Disney. She spends her time writing and enjoys playing board games with friends and family. 

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To Be Near God

Old Testament Reading: Numbers 28-30

Psalms Reading: Psalm 73

New Testament Reading: 2 Corinthians 10

What is the longest that you have prayed for something? A couple of days? A few weeks? Multiple months? Several years? Maybe a decade or two? 

For me, I prayed for something for over ten years. The words may not have been on my lips each day or recorded in my journal on a regular basis, but it was in my heart for a very long time. There were times when I looked around and wondered why God wasn’t answering this prayer. Why did he seem to be responding to others before me? Why did it appear that even nonbelievers were ‘living their best life’ and here I was, trudging along, waiting for God to do something.

Eventually, I saw an answer to my prayer. It didn’t come in a way that I anticipated, but God answered. Hallelujah! 

I find myself in another long-term praying situation. Every once in a while I see a glimpse of what I hope for, but it doesn’t last for long. It’s frustrating. At times I feel powerless because nothing I seem to do makes any difference. At other times, I am jealous of others who have what appears to be what I am asking God for. 

As I read Psalm 73, I identify some with the author in his observations that life just doesn’t seem fair. But I have come to realize that when I am looking at ANYTHING other than God, my perspective, my attitude, my desires, become skewed.

When I am intentionally seeking after God, my confidence in His plan and timing grows; my heart’s desires change, my thoughts are transformed. I become spiritually stronger and sustained when I stop comparing my life to the world and start trusting that God has bigger and greater plans in store for my future. 

So for now, I will lift up my hands and reach out to my Father who will take hold and provide all that is needed while I wait for an answer. And even if that answer doesn’t make sense, doesn’t seem fair or doesn’t match my timeline, I can trust that His way is better than my way and He alone is enough.

-Bethany Ligon

Reflection Questions

  1. What is the Psalmist’s attitude and focus in the first half of Psalm 73? What is his attitude and focus in the second half? What is the turning point? What are your favorite verses in this Psalm?
  2. When does life seem unfair to you? What is your typical response? Even when the situation remains the same, how can your attitude and focus change?
  3. What do you learn of God and His characteristics in today’s Bible reading?
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Not Fair!

Matthew 20

January 20

That is not fair!

Have you ever found yourself saying this very same thing? A coworker or classmate does not seem to be doing their share of the work but they get the same pay or grade as you, maybe even better. Maybe you say it when nothing seems to be going your way; car troubles, relationships fractured, bad grades, your sanity cracking. We all experience situations that make us want to scream at what we perceive as an unjust life.

But what makes one thing fair and another unfair?

In Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard, everyone was paid the same. Is that not fair? The first workers agreed to a set amount, reasonable pay for a day’s labor. The other workers only agreed to work for what was right. They left it to the discretion of the landowner. In his generosity the most recent hires received what he had promised the original workers. Those who were hired first said nothing as the landowner began to dole out the money. Because of his generosity towards the newer workers, they expected more.

And that is the key concept that strains so many aspects of our life; what we expect. Our expectations make it difficult sometimes to see God answering our prayers or His hand actively working in our lives. Our expectations may set us up for failure in our schools, our jobs, our relationships with one another, and certainly in our relationship with God through Jesus. If our expectations are not met then, “I guess I did not really need to learn that,” “It will not matter in the ‘real’ world,” “I will just find a new job,” “I do not need anyone else.”

Our expectations, our limited understanding of all that is makes us think that God must have failed to answer our prayers, He is not here with us, He does not care. The reality is that could not be farther from the truth! God loves us all! He is with us in every moment but rarely how we would expect.

This parable has a double lesson to teach. The first is that God is just. God alone rightly discerns what is fair and unfair. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). If we truly want life to be fair, we would all be dead the first time that we sinned. If that were the case, I doubt that humanity would exist and we would not even be here to debate the fairness of life.

God’s justice is tempered by His abundant love. In His love for us He is merciful and forgiving. Those who come to God through Jesus, will all receive the same wage when the days are done: eternal life and citizenship in God’s Kingdom, to be called His children!

This message is reiterated as Jesus addresses the request of James and John’s mother. They have an expectation of their place in God’s Kingdom and their mother wants assurance that it will be so; after all they were among the first disciples to be called by Jesus. Jesus answered this question through the parable before it could even be asked, and still it was asked.

The second lesson to learn from the parable takes us to Matthew 9:35-38 and 28:18-20. We are the workers, called to go out into all of the world and make disciples of all the nations. We have been given a task, a responsibility, a privilege to live our life for God and preach the Good News of His Coming Kingdom so that everyone would have the opportunity to choose to come to Him through Jesus, our savior!

This is not easy but it is immensely satisfying. What we do and say here in this age can open people’s eyes to see the glorious future our amazing God has planned for all who enter His vineyard. We may never give the physically blind back their sight but thanks to God’s love and power we can heal the spiritual blindness of those we encounter each day. Rely on God’s power, His plan, and His will. Trust in Him with all of your heart, soul, and mind and rejoice in knowing that the God of all creation will wipe away your tears and call you son or daughter!

-Jeff Ransom


Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. What are your expectations of God as you pray? Do you have a preconceived notion of what an answered prayer looks like? Can you think of times when you missed His answer initially only to see it later on?
  2. Do you see circumstances in your life as being unfair? Think about how they might be helping you to grow stronger in your relationship with others and especially with God through Jesus. It is difficult sometimes but how can you turn your view of these circumstances around? Our response to situations is often more powerful than the situation itself.
  3. What does your work within the vineyard look like? How are you working to spread the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus and the Coming Kingdom of God? Is there someone specific that you can think of who is blind to God’s love? How can you help them to finally see?
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