As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, in judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress.
Job 37:23

We’ve all heard young children say it: “But that’s not fair!” And we may have said it ourselves. Life is filled with “unfair” moments. Tragedies, disasters, genocides, and more lead us to ask why God allows such things to happen. The Old Testament character, Job, certainly had grounds for such a complaint.

What Job ultimately discovered is that fairness is not the issue. Rather, justice and righteousness are. Was it fair for Job’s family and livelihood to be destroyed for seemingly no reason? Not on the surface. But beneath the surface (which Job didn’t see until the end of his deep dive into God’s character), God was being just in His judgments and His use of power. It was more important for Job to know God than to have his life of smooth sailing be undisturbed. At the beginning of Job’s saga, he was angry with God for being unfair. By the end, He was worshiping God as the all-powerful Creator and Judge of all things (Job 42:1-6).

God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). But even when we don’t understand His ways, we can trust in His character.

There is nothing that I have done that can stand the touchstone of God’s justice.
John Bunyan