This is Life

I think I've come to terms with the fact that life just isn't fair sometimes. From the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered the world, the imperfectness of it all swept over the planet and continues to revolve in a most unfashionable, unwanted manner.

I generally have this thought when any huge, unwanted thing happens, like a powerful earthquake or a devastating flood. The people it affected certainly didn't ask for it. Life's not fair, I mutter. It's amazing how many times I say that when something relatively small happens to me. Nothing earth-shaking or flood-like, just something small and personally devastating. Life's not fair, I tell myself.

But what is this Life, and why do we give it credit for this supposed unfairness? Wouldn't a Christian believe that ultimately God controls and allows these things, and not Life? I mean, you'd think Life was a person sitting across the kitchen table, and we are the ones yelling at it and demanding an answer.

Certainly we can't say that God's not being fair, because He is a perfect and just God (Deuteronomy 32:4). So we blame it on Life, which really had nothing to do with it all.

After some recent unhappy happenings related to my health, I continually thought, Life's just not fair. In the midst of one doctor giving up the hunt for the cause of my illness, I thought, Life stinks. Amid needles poking my arm and scans of various body parts, I began to think that Life has no control over this, and I should stop blaming it for my troubles.

But I certainly can't and won't blame God.

Psalm 138:6-8 says (emphasis mine),

Though the Lord is on high, He looks upon the lowly,

but the proud He knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
You preserve my life;
You stretch out Your hand against the anger of my foes,
with Your right hand You save me.
The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me;
Your love, O Lord, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of Your hands.

Romans 8:28 (emphasis mine):

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

So the question is, do I believe those verses? Do I believe that no matter what, "God works for the good of those who love Him"? Do I believe that, no matter what trial comes my way, He "will fulfill His purpose for me"?

Do I really believe that? Do you?