Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.           Ecclesiastes 9:11, ESV

The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.       Proverbs 11:18, ESV

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them...        Matthew 7:12, NKJV

We've all probably said the phrase, "It isn't fair" on many occasions in our lives. It usually comes as a result of being cheated out of something, but sometimes it is basically just because something happened to us that we did not want to happen. Perhaps it was some sort of financial disaster, possibly it was a cruel disease that came upon us or a loved one, or maybe an actual crime had been committed against us. Whatever the case, something happened that we feel we didn't deserve, and we conclude that life is not fair.

And to a certain extent, we are right, because there are things that happen to us that we simply didn't have coming. Everyone who has had a child with a serious illness, or who have had a random act of violence committed against them will understand this feeling that life is not always fair. And it isn't! Sometimes bad things do happen to good people for reasons that seem inexplicable to us. Solomon's statement in Ecclesiastes is quite true in that there are occasions that time and chance happen to all men. 

The caution for Christians is that we not blame God for these unfair situations. While it is true that God could "bubble-wrap" us from birth and intervene every time that something bad was about to happen, it is also true that He has decided not to. Part of the reason for this is that He has given men free-will, and that sometimes results in wicked men choosing to sin against the innocent. This is certainly not "fair" but it is not a result of some wrong that God has done against us - it is a consequence of sin that He has forbidden, and part of the reason that sin is sin is that it often results in the innocent suffering.

Perhaps the most difficult part of life is in the area of accidents or sudden, crushing health issues. For example, a mother might be taken from her small children and young husband due to a freak accident, or a child might contract cancer. These are things that are nobody's fault, but they do happen, and it is never fair when they do. Again, this is often the time that people will accuse God of some wrongdoing, but we need to be extremely cautious to resist that wicked thought. 

The fact is that God does not "owe" any of us an explanation for the things that happen to us in our lives that are most difficult to bear. I suppose part of the test of life are these very events that test our devotion: Will we be faithful to God during the bad times as well as the good? We continue to follow Christ to the best of our ability when events happen that do not seem fair? The fact is that these hard times are the very times when we need to be drawing closer to God to seek the help and comfort that only He can give. It is tragic when people instead push Him away and lose out on the comfort and the peace that only He can provide in such situations. It should also be noted that He does intervene on our behalf and many occasions. As a matter of fact, it is for these times of intervention that we pray. 

There is another thought, and it involves one of the most famous teachings that Jesus ever gave: It is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is probably the greatest factor in achieving this "fair" life that we all want to have, for if we are truly living this commandment, we will not do evil and unfair things that cause pain to the lives of those around us.

And then there is the point that King Solomon made in Proverbs: While it is true that the wicked sometimes seem to "get away" with their unfair deeds and even seem to be rewarded for doing so, these are but temporary and deceptive wages. And while the righteous sometimes go through hard times, these times are indeed but momentary troubles. For the fact is that there will be a Judgment someday and that judgment will be entirely fair, for the faithful really will be given Heaven as a gift of grace, and the wicked who reject that grace really will be given the punishment that they deserve.

And nothing that we could possibly conceive if we were the ones in charge instead of God, could possibly be fairer than that!