Job 30:²⁴ (Job said to God) “Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help. ²⁵ Did I not weep for those whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? ²⁶ But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came. ²⁷ My inward parts are in turmoil, and are never still; days of affliction come to meet me.”

V.24 Job states the way of the righteous. One does not turn against those in need when they cry for help. V.25 he clarifies how he has responded to those who struggled. But v.26 states his fundamental problem with what has happened to him (tragedy) and God’s response (apathy).

It’s not fair!

Many times I heard my own children say these same three words. It’s not fair! This was usually in response to something I did that didn’t seem right to them, especially if I didn’t deal with all three children the exact same way. Which is correct. As a parent you don’t always treat your children the same. Different children sometimes require a different response based on their past behavior, their level of maturity, their age, and so on. But there was a greater lesson they needed to learn.

Life is not fair.

It’s sad but true. Job expects God to be fair, to respond according to the rules that God created in the first place. Job has been a model child of God and yet God has not protected Job or his family as was expected. The length of his lament gives us some sense of the level of betrayal Job experiences as a result of God’s unwillingness to come to his aid.

Is God not fair? Sometimes it seems the answer is – no.

Lord give us grace to understand you when we are confused, desperate, needy. When life seems unfair. When you seem unfair. Amen.