Unfairness

How many times have we heard our kids cry, "That's not fair" to which we mothers inevitably reply, "Life's not fair"? That seems to be an appropriate response when the amount of candy or the biggest cookie is involved but what happens when real life issues seem so incredibly unfair?

I've recently had to come face to face with a situation that has caused me to take a serious look at this concept of fairness. It's a very long story which I won't bore you with but here it is in a nutshell:

One of the companies that my husband does work for (he's self-employed and works out of our basement) went bankrupt in 2009. Last summer we received a notice from the trustee for the bankruptcy saying they needed us to pay back $25,000 due to a law that prohibits companies from dumping money prior to declaring bankruptcy. Mind you, this was money he was paid for work he did. After hiring an attorney in Minnesota and months of trying to prove it was paid through "normal business practices," they refused our proof and have filed a judgment against us. We have had to settle with them for a lesser amount but taking into consideration the attorney fees, the judgment, and the penalty we will have to pay to take the money out of our small retirement account, we are getting out of this for a mere $10,000.

Throughout this whole process, my 10-year old self has repeatedly screamed, "NO FAIR!" And I have had to do some earnest soul searching to come to grips with it. Now you'd think that a woman who has pretty successfully dealt with the fact that her only daughter will never progress past the mental capacity of a 3 year old would have this issue of fairness all nailed down. I wish I could say that was true.

Somehow reconciling Laurie's handicap and God's involvement in it has been a whole lot easier than seeing any good that can come out of us paying all this money to a company who didn't manage their business well enough to stay afloat. It grieves me to admit that when it affects my pocketbook, my ability to accept this was God's will takes a serious hit.

My attempts to come to grips led me first to the dictionary which gave me this definition:
          unfair--not based on or behaving according to the principles of equality and justice
The word principles kept coming back to me and this question with it: Whose principles of equality and justice? If I use the world's principles, then I'm on a fast track to a slippery slope. Self-pity, entitlement, selfishness, and a host of other self absorbed emotions will pave the way and I might as well just pitch a tent and cop a squat at the bottom of that slope because I won't be climbing back up any time soon.

But what if we consider God's principles? Was it fair that Moses had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because the Israelites couldn't get their act together? Was it fair that Job had to lose almost everything because of a bet God had with the Devil? Was it fair that so many of the disciples were martyred because they wouldn't denounce Christ? And of course, the ultimate in unfairness--the arrest, torture, and death of Jesus who was without sin. In each of these instances, God's principles were based on eternity and not the here and now. God's basis for equality and justice stands in direct opposition with the world's.

Have I figured out what God's eternal purpose is for us having to pay back money that was rightfully ours? No. But I believe He doesn't break His promises and here's what He showed me last week:

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 1:6-7


My response to this perceived injustice will directly affect my faith...which is worth much more than $10,000.