“God’s Not Fair!”
In today’s Bible reading* the people are complaining that God’s not fair. But God counters that it’s not Him who’s not fair; it’s His people.
But the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s way isn’t fair.’ Is it my ways that are unfair, house of Israel? Instead, isn’t it your ways that are unfair? “Therefore, house of Israel, I will judge each one of you according to his ways.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. “Repent and turn from all your rebellious acts, so they will not become a sinful stumbling block to you.
Ezekiel 18:29–30 (CSB)
This comes on the heels of God’s declaration that He will hold individuals accountable for their own sin. He will not hold the children responsible for their parents’ sins. And God won’t hold parents responsible for the sins of their children. If someone repents, God will forgive their sin. (Ezekiel 18:20-22)
Application
No, God’s not fair. But God is just. God’s holiness demands that He deal appropriately with sin. Because God is just and righteous, sin must be atoned for. For God to not deal with sin God would not be just. God would not be righteous.
No, God’s not fair. God is gracious and merciful. For God to be gracious and merciful doesn’t require Him to forgive the sins of all people. If God were to forgive only one human in all of history, it would prove Him to be merciful and gracious. He owes mankind nothing.
To say that God’s not fair reveals how lowly we view His righteousness. It reveals how lowly we feel about our sin. No, our sin is exceedingly grievous because it is against an exceedingly holy God.
No, God’s not fair. We can praise Him for all eternity for that! And eternity would be long enough to just get started praising Him for that!
* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
Ezekiel 17
Ezekiel 18
Ezekiel 19
Ezekiel 20
This devotional was originally published on September 3, 2021.
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