Life is not fair

Genesis 31:36-42

Have you said, “that is not fair” sometimes this statement is true, and have you ever wondered, who was the first person to have such thoughts, was it Cain?  I was always very small for my age and it did not take long to understand that life is not always fair, but we all have freedom to choose what we do with the cards we are dealt. Growing up in a neighborhood of children of all ages, you have some who are athletic and others who have not yet arrived.  When I say we had a large park down the street, I hope you understand it was larger than the small circle at the end of Liberty drive, large enough to play baseball or football, and it had one set of swings.  It was at that park I learned “life is not fair,” all you had to do was watch when the neighborhood kids were choosing sides, on who played for their team; if you could tackle, catch or throw the football, you got picked, if not you were left to play with the girls.   Richard Burke and I were the smallest of the kids, but we always got picked, and I do not recall being concerned for those who didn’t; life was not always fair at the big park at Liberty drive.   We have been taught many wrong concepts as Christians, and one such perception is that the Christian life is trouble free, without tribulation, but that smacks in the face of what Jesus said; “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) 

I wonder if Jacob struggled in the area of fairness, lets look at the story in verses 36-42, “Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban.  Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense?  What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?  For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods?  Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.  These twenty years I have been with you.  Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.  What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you.  I bore the loss of it myself.  From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.  There I was: by the day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.  These twenty years I have been in your house.  I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed.  God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”

Sometimes no matter how elegant your speech or the passion in your voice, the other person’s pride looks past the facts; the truth has no control over their actions and that was the case with Laban.  If only you and I could follow the apostle Peter’s council given in 1Peter 3:14-15, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.  Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice