Is God fair?

Imagine a man buying his son a very expensive toy. The boy starts playing with it but would not let his father help him put it together properly. As a consequence he gets hurt when the thing (for example an electric train) malfunctions. Then the boy blames his father and starts ascribing evil motives to him.

That is how many people relate to God. We question him on why innocent babies die. The fact that he allows so much suffering in the world can be an excuse for me to say "No God". This could mean I don't believe he exists or, if he is there, I think he is unfair. C S Lewis's book "God in the dock" explores this phenomenon.

Job accused God of paying attention to every detail of his life (Job7:17-20). "What is God trying to prove?", he wondered, since he is all powerful (Job 9:19-20). He implied that God was unfair to him (Job 10:2-3;16:12-14). Nevertheless the Lord was not cross with Job for being so honest about his feelings. However, God did not appreciate the way Job's friends tried to defend his honour. He can defend himself!

To question the dealings of God with men is to mistrust him and make judgements about his fairness. The gist of his answer to Job out of the storm was that he knew what he was doing and did not need our advice or monitoring of his actions (Job 38;39). How can the clay tell the potter how to mould it?

Nevertheless, the Almighty is not upset with anyone querying the things happening to himself/herself (Job 42:7). We will always conclude that he is fair and that we are in need of his forgiveness and not the other way around.