Hi Mike,

I would just like to ask a question: Why is it that a God who claims to be omnibenevolent and ever- loving can be so manifestly unfair? I’m of mixed Northwest European (Scottish & Irish), African and Indian descent, and, quite frankly, I loathe my physical identity. I mean, I had no say in the matter, yet God expects me to be fully contented with a bodily identity that I despise utterly! Is this the Divine fairness that we hear so much about? I look around me and see other young men — amazingly handsome young men — and I frequently slip into despondency because I desire to look like they do, which is impossible. I am the one who has to endure the ongoing mental and emotional anguish, not God! I can seldom bear to view myself in the mirror, so great is my contempt for what I behold. Other people find me quite physically attractive, but it only matters that I do not! I can’t understand why an all- loving Deity would make some persons so aesthetically pleasing to the eye and others far less so. It just doesn’t make any sense to me!

Anyway, blessings to you and yours.
S____

Hi S____,
Thank you for your question. You ask:

I would just like to ask a question: Why is it that a God who claims to be omni- benevolent and ever- loving can be so manifestly unfair? I’m of mixed Northwest European (Scottish & Irish), African and Indian descent, and, quite frankly, I loathe my physical identity. I mean, I had no say in the matter, yet God expects me to be fully contented with a bodily identity that I despise utterly! “

I am truly sorry that you are so upset with God for making you who you are. I am sorry you loathe your “bodily identity” and physical pedigree as you do.
But just so you know, this feeling that God is unfair is common to mankind. We all feel, at some time in our lives, that God is unfair. You say:

Is this the Divine fairness that we hear so much about?

I don’t know who you are referring to, but I do know it is not me or the iswasandwillbe. com web page. Nowhere have I ever written or thought that God is “fair.” Scripture certainly never makes such a claim. The exact opposite it true, God either loves or hates us all before we are even born:

Rom 9:11  (For [ the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Does that sound like God is laying some kind of a claim to being “fair?” The exact opposite is true. God wants us to know that He has no obligation to do what we think is fair. God wants us all to know that He is sovereign and that what He does or does not do, does not rest upon our lack of knowledge of His plan and purpose to save all of His creation in Adam. Here is what the Bible really teaches concerning whether God is fair:

Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

“Whom He will He hardens.” Since we all live by every word, we all endure and live what you are now experiencing before we are “crushed to powder” and remolded by the Potter from the marred vessel we all are first into a new vessel as pleases the Potter. We are all Pharaoh before we become the new vessel, made according to the Potter’s will.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Perhaps you will say, ‘Well, I can certainly vouch for that!’ That is fine if only you can do so spiritually and see that your problem is not your physical pedigree or appearance as much as your spiritual pedigree and your spiritual appearance. Physical beauty always becomes a curse to those upon whom it is bestowed. Physical riches will inevitably make a man into a spiritual pauper.

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [ are called]:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

You say you despise yourself? That is exactly what God has chosen! God wants us to know that flesh has no reason to glory in His presence. You need to thank God for his wonderful work in your life, yes, even in your appearance and your pedigree.
The very purpose for the book of Job is to answer this question of yours. Job was a good man. He had never done anything to deserve the trial God placed upon him. Job lost all of his children and every single thing he owned in one single day. Then God deliberately sent Satan to ‘touch Job’s body,’ and Job was covered with excruciating boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. All that was left to Job was a wife who was encouraging Job to curse God so he could go ahead and die and be put out of his misery. Then God sent friends to advise Job in this experience. The first three men who were accusing Job of heinous sins, were far more deserving of the discipline Job was enduring, but God was not working in their lives, He was working with Job. So Job was the one who had to endure the trials.
Elihu alone was given by God to show Job that this whole experience was for the purpose of demonstrating His sovereignty over the lives of all men. It had nothing at all to do with Job’s righteousness or lack thereof. All of Job’s righteousnesses like all of ours, are only filthy rags before God. Whether we are righteous or evil, we are what we are only by the grace of God, and nothing we are, good or evil, is of ourselves.

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Here is God’s response to Job’s complaint that God was unfair:

Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

There are a lot of unfair things in this world. Why is that? That is for our edification. We need to be aware of what is the Truth. Living under the allusions of lies is harmful to us. We must come to see the sovereignty of God in all things and to know the truth of these words.

1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

But what about Paul’s sins? Surely those are not of the Lord, are they? What does the holy spirit, by the pen of Paul say? What has the spirit inspired to be preserved for us on this subject?

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [ how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Twice we are told of about sins, “It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Then we are told that there is a law at work which causes us all to sin. What is that law? The answer is in the next chapter:

Rom 8:1  [ There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

“Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.” Don’t look at your flesh, look at your spirit. The law of the spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death. Who sustains that law of sin and death? The answer to that is in the verse we quoted above:

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

I have said enough. Read Psa 107, and come before God with thanksgiving. Repent of your lack of gratitude, and thank God for what He is doing in your life.

Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22  And l et them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

You are in my prayers. God is working in your life and He is bringing you to Himself in a spiritual form and with the spiritual pedigree that He wants. These storms are essential in God’s work in the lives of those who He is choosing to rule this world and then to judge all of mankind in the same fires in which we are now being purged

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, [ and] exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Christ “had no form or comeliness” that we would think of Him as a handsome man:

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

This is us, because we are to be like Him in this world:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

I am to fill up in my flesh what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ, because it is what is being done in my flesh that is yet lacking of the afflictions of the Christ. So God commands and raises up these storms which cause us to question His fairness, then he calms the same storm when He gives us a spirit that is grateful “for all His wonderful works to the children of men.” Sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and repent of questioning a sovereign loving Father who knows far better than we do what is best for His creation.

Your brother in Christ.
Mike