When Life Is Not Fair

Well, we're thinking a little bit about children today. We're all children, aren't we? We're the children of God. We're just different ages and different stages along the way. And I think God is probably really tickled, just like we are, to see his children grow.

My children are grown, as they say in East Texas. They're grown. But I still remember the joy of watching them progress through those amazing stages of life and maturity. You know, how they go from crawling to walking, the little smiles that are not just gas, but it's actual real smiles. And then they progress to actual giggles of joy at your funny faces and jokes. And then the thing that amazes me the most, and I think it distinguishes us so much, is our words.

Babies move from these queen little sounds to one monosyllable and to multiple syllables and then words. And next thing you know, you just got to sit there and listen to them all day because they have so much they want to tell you. And that's part of the joy God gives us, and having children and watching them grow. And as parents, I know we all do our very best to rear them. We try very hard and seriously to train them up in the way that they should go.

Of course, that's a reference to Proverbs 22.6. That's what God's Word tells us to do. And so we start very early trying to teach them some of the basic principles. And I think we succeed at this. We teach them early on the basic principles of living a good and happy life. Some of the phrases we had in our family was, put your toys away.

That's an important principle of life. It comes in handy as you grow older. We encourage your children to wash your hands. Say your sorry. Say your prayers. Listen to daddy and mommy. And of course, the list is much longer, but I think you get that picture. In such simple ways, then, we and all of us as parents—and I know you grandparents are a huge help too in rearing children—in these simple ways, children learn about personal responsibility.

They learn also to trust and obey their parents. And that reflects even as God wants us to learn from Him. God wants us to learn personal responsibility. God wants us to believe and do what He says. And as our children grow older, their interactions with other children and adults require further development.

We eventually must teach our children about getting along with others, about loving and respecting others. And so we keep adding to their instruction. We tell them, play fair. Don't cheat. Follow the rules. The one I heard a lot growing up is, cheaters never win. Remember some of those phrases, maybe? Those are all basic principles of God's law and His way of life. They're listed in their own wording in the Ten Commandments. We know them as, don't steal. Don't bear false witness against your neighbor. We teach those principles very simply to our children.

And then, elaborate further as they grow up. Even we old kids, who are still learning more and more about those commandments every day. We also tell our children, don't play favorites. Be polite. We want them to love their neighbor. We want them to be kind to all, because God loves all people. Even as Peter says in Acts 10.34, Peter said, I perceive that God shows no partiality. He loves all people.

And we need to practice loving all people. And so it is, we ought to teach our children to be fair and just, even as God teaches. As we teach our children to be fair, though, we can be sure that our children will one day tell us those well-known words, we said ourselves, and still say, you know what it is, that's not fair. But they do it in much more high, squeaky voices, don't they? That's not fair. And then we, as parents, with our infinitely vast and stupendous wisdom, will reprise, well, life isn't fair. Isn't that great wisdom?

We might add even such confident advice as get used to it, deal with it. One of my favorites, I do not know where I picked this up, I need to do a scan on this. One of my favorites is, life's not fair, suck it up, buttercup, deal with it. One of the ministers at the feast actually used that line.

I thought it was my line, but I guess it's a well-known line. Well, such truths sound rather harsh in the ears of a five-year-old, don't they? Suck it up. You're five years old, just suck it up. And yet those same words can still seem harsh to a 14-year-old, 20-year-old, a 58-year-old, even if you're 82.

That's hard to take sometimes. Inevitably, though, our children will discover what we older ones already know, that life in this world is not always fair, it is not always just.

So what do we do when confronted with that fact? Well, what did I do? I remember being confronted with that fact very clearly when I was young. I think I was in third grade when I suffered my first oppressive bullying by a kid named—and I've tried hard to remember his name—I can't remember his name—is Gary or Mark. It might even be Bruce. I don't even remember. They all sound like bully names. No offense to anybody in the room. But I think he—I do know this. I'm pretty sure he was the only kid—I was in third grade—I do think he was the only kid in fifth grade that had black peach fuzz mustache. I'm pretty sure of that. He was a pretty scary guy.

I rode the school bus every day back and forth to school. He was on our bus route. And inevitably, Gary Mark Bruce would sit in the row right behind me and pasture me nonstop on the way to school and most of the way back home at night. Pulling my hair, flicking my earlobes. The worst was the nasty spit watch. Yeah. It wasn't fun.

Now, my parents had taught me, don't you ever start a fight. Same thing I taught my kids. But if somebody starts a fight and if you can't get out of it, you need to stand up for yourself.

Sounds like great wisdom, right? It's easier said than done. Because what I discovered when I hit him back, he just hit me back harder. And when I'd yell out, stop it! Well, that just egged him on more and the pummeling ensued. There's no way around it. Now, sometimes our bus driver, he had to have been hard of hearing. I know he was probably around 70. Really nice, retired farmer.

He would make this young man sit in the front row by him, maybe for one day if I was lucky, two days. And then he'd be back behind me, pestering me to no end. It was not fun in any way whatsoever. And I suffered miserably for most of that school year, and I didn't know enough about God to know to pray about it. I now know that would have probably helped me out a lot more. But finally, at the end of the spring, my oppressor moved away. And I was relieved. Of course, he went to another bus route somewhere, and some other kid was being pestered. But I was delivered. And I look back at now, I had my deliverer. He's gone, and my problem was solved. Now, that period of bullying, except for the details and the names, it's still pretty deep in my heart and mind. I learned a lot about that. I did learn that life is not always fair. I did learn that the weaker truly can suffer at the hands of those who are far more powerful than they. But I also learned this. I learned that I never ever wanted to bully anybody. I guess that's one good thing that came of it. I never wanted to be a bully for anybody. Somehow, some way, though, we all inevitably—that was my way, you have your stories. We can talk about these stories in reading, maybe. But we inevitably, sooner or later, learn in life, oftentimes at a younger age, that life is not always fair.

In life, people come along who will oppress us. They will torment us. And troubles unforeseen will causes profound grief and even desperation at times. What should we do when fairness and justice seem to be turned upside down? What must we do when we find ourselves wrongly accused of things we didn't do, oppressed by a tormentor that's not a fuzzy-lipped fifth-grader but maybe an oppressive boss, an oppressive spouse, an oppressive somebody, a government even. What do we do?

Well, today, my sermon is entitled, When Life is Not Fair. I've entitled it, When Life is Not Fair.

And so, as we answer these questions about what do we do, and life is not the way we want it to be, unfair, it seems, and unjust, we're going to begin, first of all, though, we're going to talk about, we're going to begin, first, by looking at some examples from Scripture. The nice thing about God's Word, it's filled with people who have walked before us and have suffered and endured things, and we have a lot to learn from Scripture. We have a lot to learn from Scripture about life not being fair. So, let's turn together, please turn with me, back to number 16. Back in number 16, and I'd like to read from the account of Cora's Rebellion.

Maybe we haven't read it for a while, but reading it from the angle of what happens when life is not fair, things you didn't count on happen to you, there may be something here for us to learn. In number 16, we see how Moses, in this case, we see how Moses responded to those people who apparently thought that they were rebelling against Moses, but were actually rebelling against God. They made some unfortunate presumptions on their part.

And as we read this account, I want for us to pay attention to what Moses did.

So let's read. We're just going to read here for a while, numbers 16, verse 1 through 5. Now, Cora was the son of Ezar, son of Kohath, the son of Levi. With Dath and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and on the son of Pilath, sons of Reuben.

Let's see, I didn't read that right. Now it's Coron and Reuben. They took men. There you go. They took men. Verse 2. And they rose up before Moses and some of the children of Israel, with some of the children of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation. They were men of renown. So these were famous, well-known people in the nation of Israel, among the children of Israel. These weren't nobodies. These were somebodies. Verse 3. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?

Why do you exalt yourselves among the assembly of the Lord? So look at Moses here. Moses, when he heard it, he fell on his face. And he spoke to Coron, his company, saying, Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is his and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. That one whom he chooses, he will cause to come near to him.

And so, instead of these leaders, what's interesting, instead of these leaders of Israel supporting Moses and Aaron and their leadership, Moses found himself under attack.

This was an assault upon him. It gets a little personal here, we're going to see. And upon the leadership that God had given him. So Coron is followers had wronged Moses and, of course, God, and they accused Moses of taking upon himself the leadership of God's people.

They then presumed to take for themselves the leadership, which is rather ironic. They do exactly, or they try to do exactly, what they accused Moses and Aaron of doing. It's not the way how bullies do sometimes. They do exactly what they accused Moses and Aaron of doing.

The rebels, we see, didn't accept that God was leading Israel through his chosen ones.

It's interesting, Moses didn't lash out and defend himself against their false accusations most people might have. He said that's not, he didn't say that's not true, you're wrong. He didn't do that. Instead, Moses immediately fell to the ground in reverence to God.

He did that because he trusted God, and he obeyed God. And the words he spoke when he arose from the ground, these words he said come back tomorrow, well, those were God's words. It's as if God inspired him to say those things when he was laying on the ground and he spoke them as he arose. We find Moses' words in verse 15.

Moses' words are a little more hot. They're a little more filled with anger because of these rebels' audacity, and also for their accusing him of self-serving injustice. That was an offensive thing for Moses to take. And if we have ever been falsely accused of doing something wrong, I think we can understand the reaction of Moses in this regard. Let's read that, verse 15. Then Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them. I didn't wrong these people. I didn't take anything that wasn't mine to take. I haven't offended them. But the point is, Moses took his problem, even his anger, it seems, to God. Now the conflict can continue the next day. Verse 18.

Let's skip ahead a bit. Verse 18. So every man took his censer. That's part of what they had been told to do. Every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. It doesn't describe it as a mob scene or anything like that, but you get the sense. This is a pretty oppressive, numerous group of men standing against Aaron and Moses. And then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, verse 21, separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.

God is angry. God is very angry. In fact, he's ready to destroy all Israel, and not just these wicked and presuming men. In verse 22, what did they do? Moses and Aaron, what did they do? Immediately they prayed for all the people. Verse 22, they fell on their faces, and they said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and you be angry with all the congregation? So the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the congregation, saying, get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. God's changed his mind. Verse 27, so they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their little children. And Moses said, By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive and to the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord. Verse 31, Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men with Korah with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry. For they said, lest the earth swallow us up also. And then a fire came out from the Lord, and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. It's pretty quick. Very dramatic.

Too late, Korah and the other rebellious leaders learned that, yes indeed, they had actually rejected God. But God did not call the children of Israel a stiff-necked people for no reason. The rebellion continued on. It continued on with Moses and Aaron falsely, and frankly, rather foolishly, being accused of murder. Look at verse 41. Verse 41, the next day it continues, On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of the Lord. Kind of foolish accusation, but that's what they said. They were stiff-necked. Verse 42, and that happened, When the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. Verse 44, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Get away from this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. Again, Moses and Aaron prayed an intercession for the people. Verse 46, So Moses said to Aaron, Take a censure and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord, the plague has begun. And then Aaron took it, as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly. And already the plague had begun among the people, so he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. Verse 48, And he stood between the dead and the living, so the plague was stopped. Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the chorra incident. So Aaron returned then to Moses at the door of the Tabernacle of Meeting, where the plague had stopped. I can't read this account of Korah's Rebellion without being a little bit somber and sobered by this. This is pretty incredible.

That these men, and it sounds like they'd influenced pretty much all the congregation of Israel to join them in this rebellion against Moses and Aaron, actually a rebellion against God. There's much here that we need to think seriously about. There's much that transpired here.

One thing that comes to my mind is that could the attitude of Korah creep into my heart? Could it creep into our hearts? Would we ever presume to know God's will? Would we ever presume to know exactly what God wants? Would we ever assume to know what's best?

It's possible. It's quite possible. And then, if we cast our thoughts further outward, when we cast a glance at society in recent weeks, the attitude of Korah and the other rebels seems to be increasingly prevalent. I feel it's getting worse, not better, personally. People are taking upon themselves, like Korah and the others, the role of judge and jury, and some, perhaps, executioner.

Some even endeavor to take on the role of God. If you think about it, they're asserting that they know the truth of something about certain people that, frankly, can only lie within the hearts of minds of those individuals they claim to know what it's all about. And with little compassion for who is harmed, many seek to seize power by marshalling armies of supporters. The louder, the better, the more support they seem to get and want. They continue to strive to insert themselves into leadership roles for which they have no legal authority. Might such worldly attitudes in the guise and name of fairness and justice creep into our own hearts and minds?

What happens in society, I've learned through the years, can affect our hearts in the ways we think. Maybe not so dramatically, but in subtle ways we might be picking up certain attitudes and maybe frustrations and angers ourselves. And I think that's something I don't want to do. I think that's something none of us should want to do. Now, throughout this rebellion we've read about against Moses, remember I asked you to pay attention to what Moses did. Moses consistently remained faithful to God. He, as well as Aaron, prayed very much, didn't they? Flat on the face, boom, they dropped. They knew what was going on. And they trusted totally in God's judgment and mercy to deal with the outrageous demands of the rebels and to not annihilate the entire nation of Israel. They trusted God that He would do what is right and they prayed and God had mercy. And though wrongly attacked and accused of injustice and selfish ambition, theft, and even murder themselves, Moses kept turning back to God. He kept turning to God for justice.

And not just for himself, but for all the children of Israel.

I think a lesson for us to learn from this first example of Cora's rebellion, I think an important lesson for us to learn here so far is that we too must look to God and trust God. We must go to God when life is unfair with prayer. We must be consistent in keeping up our obedience and trust in God. And like we saw with Moses, we must believe and know that God will also strengthen us no matter what the injustice is we face, no matter where the injustice in our life comes from. Now let's turn to consider another person. Of course, there are many in the Bible. Let's consider this person who suffered injustice and maltreatment at the hands of his own people, Jeremiah. It's Jeremiah. Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 1. In preparing for this sermon, what I discovered is I want to know a whole lot more about the man, Jeremiah. Just reading his own accounts, his prayers, as it were, to God tells me so much. It's very humbling just to read what Jeremiah went through and what he had to say to God. If you haven't done that yourself lately, you may find that also an interesting study. In chapter 1, we find that Jeremiah the prophet had a long and close relationship with God. He served God since the time of his youth. That's what we're told. Of course, we find that God knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah knew anything about God. Jeremiah kept serving God well into old age. Let's read a little bit here in Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah 1 verses 4-8.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, God says, I knew you.

Before you were born, I sanctified you, I set you apart. I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

And then said I, Jeremiah, oh Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth. I'm too young. But the Lord said to me, Do not say I am a youth. For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces. For I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.

That should be rather comforting and very frightening as well for Jeremiah. God knew what he was doing with Jeremiah. God knew Jeremiah would face a most challenging and difficult task. But God promised to be with him. God promised to make him strong and resilient against any and all of the people's assaults that would come up against him. Let's look at verse 17-19, still in chapter 1. Verse 17-19, God has done his part, but now he tells Jeremiah to do his part. God tells in verse 17, Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them.

For behold, verse 18, I have made you this day a fortified city. He's made Jeremiah like a fortified city in an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. Why? Because I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.

And to speak to them, Jeremiah did. He spoke to them. He prophesied to them the fall of Judah, he prophesied to them Judah's exile, due to their egregious sins, outrageous sins against God, and he also prophesied to them God's promise of the people's return, of God's justice and God's mercy.

So we see that God called Jeremiah for a very special service to him. Jeremiah never asked for this position. He never asked for this job.

But frankly, when one believes God, and knows that God himself has called, I ask you, what else can a person do but accept the call, and obey, and believe, and do God's will? To be a servant of God, especially a prophet, requires a special person. God alone knows who is best qualified. God does not call just anybody, nor does he call everybody. Not at this age, in this day and age, not in the age of Jeremiah either. Jeremiah's task was also most difficult, for as a prophet of God, he was to suffer nearly constant ridicule and constant threats, it seems, against his life. And he did nothing wrong. He did nothing but announce the righteous judgments of God. He was a mouthpiece. He was a spokesperson, as it were, for God. But for all that, he suffered nearly constant ridicule, constant contempt of all. Scripture tells us even his own family hated him and were against him.

He was beaten often, imprisoned often, and nearly lost his life multiple times. Jeremiah deserved none of these punishments, and so he rightly took his laments or complaints to God, because he knew that God is just. He knew that God is fair. And that's also a big lesson for us to learn, isn't it? We must take our own laments and complaints. We must take our problems to God. We have our challenges to face.

We find one of Jeremiah's complaints to God in chapter 15, there throughout this book.

But let's look at Jeremiah 15. As the servant of God, Jeremiah suffered great injustice.

And in verse 10, he openly expresses—you can't help but admire Jeremiah, because his conversations to God, his prayers are very sincere. They're raw, they're raw and to the point. And in verse 10, he openly expresses his grief in a traditional expression. In this traditional expression, he expresses regret to his mother for having borne him. You see this occurring often in scripture in different places. Job did the same thing. It's something—a way of expressing your grief. And Job—excuse me—Jeremiah states here in verse 10, "'Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth.' I've become a problem to everybody.

But he says, "'But I have neither lent for interest, nor have men lent to me for interest.

Yet every one of them curses me.' Woe is me, I've done nothing to deserve this." And so rather quickly here in verse 10, we see, yes, it's not easy being a messenger of God's righteousness. Some of us know that personally.

Verse 15. If we continue on here in verse 15, we read more. This is one of Jeremiah's candid and sincere prayers to God. And I can't help but pause here when I read the very first line. Look at these very first words Jeremiah spoke to God. Verse 15, "'O Lord, you know.'" And I read those lines, I just stopped.

"'You know.'" Those few words say so much.

Jeremiah knows, what does he know? Jeremiah knows, that God knows all that he has done, all that he has suffered.

Words really cannot express what he's undergone so far.

And then he continues on. He continues by asking for God's intervention. He asks God to care for him. And he says, continuing on there, he says, "'Remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your enduring patience, do not take me away.'" Now some versions of translation say, perhaps this means when he says, do not take me away. It suggests possibly that Jeremiah is saying, in your patience, God, in your long patience, do not let me die. Do not let me die. Do not take me away. And then he finishes there saying, know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke.

And then Jeremiah recalls those wonderful early days and times when he first delighted in God's word. He remembers those times. Let's look at verse 16. He continues, "'Your words were found, and I ate them. And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, O Lord, God of host.'" And it seems he remembers back those wonderful moments, those early moments. Some of us might equate this with that first love when we first come to understand God's word as never before. But then in verse 17, he quickly turns again to call God's attention how he has lived his life. He's tried very hard to live his life separately from the world. He's tried to live his life right in the eyes of God. And so he explains here, he says, "'I did not sit in the assembly of mockers.'" Verse 17, "'I did not rejoice with them in their mockery. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation, with righteous anger, for what he sees, for what God has taught him and shown to him, and then what he, Jeremiah, has to watch and see that people do.'" So verse 17 again tells us that he's lived a not-so-happy life. He's been solitary. He hasn't been with many friends. He hasn't had the same experiences as other people. He did not have a normal childhood. He is not having the typical adulthood either. It's not fun. But because of that, he has come to hate the way of those who mock God, who hate God. But verse 18, he expresses there is still so much pain he must bear with, despite being a preacher of God's righteousness. Verse 18, he says, "'Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?'" He seems referring to his suffering as being ostracized by the people, as the contempt they throw at him. It's a continued wound. He's not delivered from it. And then he makes this last question. He says to God, "'Will you surely be to me like an unreliable stream? Will you be to me as waters that fail?'" Now, in these concluding lines, Jeremiah has been lamenting the affliction from all these people that mock him and despise him. They're mocking and despising God. But this final question is unfortunate.

This final question, in his final question, he's very sincere, Jeremiah. But it's not a wise thing to have said, because he not so subtly suggests that God is not reliable. Would you be to me like an unreliable stream? That is not the way God is.

In verses 19 through 21, what we find is that God was definitely listening. He was very much near to Jeremiah, just as Jeremiah had asked him to be. And God did hear Jeremiah's questioning his reliability. God's response? Well, I can summarize it this way. He tells Jeremiah, you'd better repent. Look at verse 19. Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return, Young's literal translation says that means turn back. The NIV says it means repent. If, Jeremiah, you return, you repent, then I will bring you back.

You shall stand before me if you take out the precious from the vial, if you get things right.

You shall be as my mouth. Let the people, let them return to you, but you must not return to them.

And so he's suggesting you're wavering, you're forgetting, in your despair, don't let go with me. Don't turn your back on me.

And it's interesting, I think, though Jeremiah is weary and in despair, and some say, well, it's understandable. He would say that. And yes, it is. But nonetheless, it's not something Jeremiah should be thinking about, the doubts and the fears. It sort of reminds me of what I heard in the sermonette today. This is not where his mind should be. Even though he is weary and in despair, God, you notice, still corrects him for doubting his trustworthiness, for doubting God's faithfulness. But if he repents, God says he will allow him the privilege to continue on serving him.

A lesson I think for us here is that no matter how weary we may become in doing good, God expects our commitment, God expects our trust in him to remain steadfast and rock solid. And then God continues. God reaffirmed the promise he had made when he first called Jeremiah. He knows Jeremiah needs to hear this. Verse 20-21, God again tells him, And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall, and they will fight against you, Jeremiah. But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.

I like to think of those words being applied to each of us when we despair and when we remain true to God. Jeremiah surely had a great task to perform in his service to God. And as we've read, he suffered much, he endured much. And when we read the entirety of the book, especially again the words that Jeremiah addresses directly to God, I'm sure we'll find that he moves from these moments of darkest despair to exhilarating hope. He might say, what's wrong with him? He keeps going back and forth.

If you've ever despaired in your life's trials, you know exactly what Jeremiah is going through. I get it, and I think we all get it. But through it all, like Jeremiah did, we too must persevere through whatever trial, whatever is unfair and unjust. We must persevere in our service to God. Jeremiah remained faithful to God and true to his calling to the very end. God expects no less from us, and we can expect God to deliver us and to help us in our need. Jeremiah's example reminds us that living life in obedience to God and as a servant of God will never be totally easy. It will never be without difficulties. But living in submission to God means that we do and we will suffer injustice from time to time, and we will have to put up with the world's unfairness.

And as I do think about these things, I have to wonder at times whether I and whether we are being realistic about how we are to live life God's way.

You know, the evils we read so often about in Scripture, such as what Jeremiah suffered through, they seem like storybook. They seem like fiction. We can read the book, we can read this terrible thing, and then we close our Bibles and we go to bed. And, huh, that happened back then.

But they're evil and they still exist. And I think we're seeing more of them around us, and we will see more around us in times to come. And so I wonder if sometimes the evils we read about in Scripture can seem so foreign to us in this 21st century of ours, this materialistic, loving society we live in, this rather convenient American experience we have.

I wonder whether we naively expect that living life God's way is supposed to be easy for us.

And that bothers me because it's not supposed to be easy, and I wonder if maybe I'm not doing something right, and I'm making it easy and maybe avoiding something I need to be doing according to God's law and way, which is difficult to do. It's something I think about.

You know, I catch myself wondering—I'll put it this way—do we think that being living sacrifices means living a life of ease and contentment? Of course the answer is no.

But living in relative peace—and for us in America, anyway, with all our prosperity, quite unlike the rest of the world—we do take many conveniences for granted. We take our wealth and comfort, air conditioning, a roof that doesn't leak over our heads right now in the rain. Glad for that. But we can take all these things as normal, take it for granted.

And I hope that we'll not lull us into thinking that God will always allow us such relatively good and peaceful times, that He will always allow us fair weather and good times. In fact, if we're not careful, we could even come to think that we will not suffer, or we should not suffer—well, at least too much—and that we will always get along with people. We should never have difficulty with people. Well, that's not so. And so I wonder—going back to some of what I said in the introduction—I wonder whether we inadvertently might cling too much to that childhood ideal that life must be fair, that we demand to God, this must be fair, God. It's not going the way I want it. Make it fair for me. Or do we wonder that maybe people should just be nice to us because we're nice people. We get along with everybody. We don't cause trouble. Why aren't they nice to me?

Well, the life of Jeremiah should remind us that an easy life is not what God promises. And if we haven't done so lately, let's turn back to John 15, verses 19-21.

John 15, verses 19-21.

Can we read this during Passover? John 15, 19-21. We need to refresh and think—refresh your memories, think about the words of Christ here. John 15, 19, Jesus said, If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Kind of sounds like Jeremiah's situation. Remember, the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, Jesus said, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, Jesus said, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, all these terrible things. Because they do not know him, the Father who sent me. Let's also time this 2 Timothy 3, 12.

Paul reiterates these words of Christ. They should echo in our minds. And help us not to be shocked when life is not fair. Paul said 2 Timothy 3, 12, Yes, he says, in all who desire to live godly, and surely we do, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. These are very sobering words. Part of me doesn't want to hear them.

But the other part of me that tells me what God has promised for us who endured to the end eternal life and salvation, that part of me, I like to hear those words. I need to hear those words. I and we all need to remember these words. And so, these are promises, sobering promises from God, but behind them are great blessings. So, like Jeremiah, we must remain encouraged. We must remain faithful knowing that God is with us when we remain repentant and close to God. God does want us to come to Him. We heard about that in the sermon at and today. God wants us to come to Him. He wants us to express our hearts and minds to Him, as raw as our feelings may be at times. He wants us to trust Him to deliver us from our woes and according to His will. Our part is to keep on believing in obeying God. No matter what our trial, no matter the circumstance, we've got to know and believe that God will only allow that which is ultimately the very best for us. And not just for us, but what is best for others. It's not all about us.

Now, in saying that, I by no means claim to fully understand God's will. I do not claim to fully understand God's mind. I do not claim to understand all God's ways of justice. No person can. So we cannot always explain why God does allow certain tragedies we would call them to occur, why God allows seemingly unfair things to happen and other things prevented. I want to understand, but I don't. But we do know, and we've got to be convicted, that God is love. That we can know. And we have to know and believe that He alone gives us hope.

That He only does what is fair and just. He can do nothing else. Personally, I often find that what I do know about God helps me tremendously when it comes to matters that I can't explain. I can't have a reason for.

And perhaps that's where trust in God's justice and mercy and love come from. God's people learn to trust God. They learn to trust God to deal out justice and even vengeance His way upon those who oppress and persecute us, all in His due time.

God's people are careful not to take matters into their own hands as well. God's people let God sort out matters in His own way and time.

Let's think back about Moses. If Moses, for example, had not trusted God to deal justly with Quora and the others in the rebellion, well, Moses would have probably dealt with the situation himself. Then the whole affair could have devolved into a civil war, quite possibly. Moses may have chosen to eradicate the entire families of all three leaders, which God chose not to do. Instead, Moses trusted God entirely to do what he deemed best with regards to the rebels, even when he didn't understand the whys and wherefores of God. He trusted God. He went to God every time. And so must we. Now, to illustrate my point about not knowing the whys and wherefores of God, let's again consider Quora's rebellion. But this time, as it's described in Numbers 26, verses 9 through 11. Numbers 26, verses 9 through 11. There's an interesting postscript I find not me, others have found it. I just tripped over their research, and there it is, because I hadn't read as closely as I ought to, and there it was. There's an interesting postscript to the account of Quora's rebellion that I found very interesting. And perhaps it can make us all marvel just a little bit more about God's justice and God's mercy. Now, in Numbers 26, verses 9 through 11, we read a little shorter version of what happened earlier. Numbers 26, verses 9 through 11. The sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram, representatives of the congregation, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Quora, when they contended against the Lord. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Quora, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a sign. Nevertheless, the children of Quora did not die. Hmm, that's interesting.

Although many died with Quora when the earth opened up and swallowed him alive, and though 14,700 others died from the plague God sent the next day, God kept alive the children of Quora. Yet, number 16 specifies that the wives, sons, and little children of Dathan and Abiram died with them. Some children lived, some children did not. Why did God execute justice this way? I don't know. I don't know. I can't fully grasp the mind of God. Now, I could speculate, but I don't like to do that. Humanly speaking, God's actions here seem unfair. But they can't be unfair. Because we know that God is always righteous and just, this can't be unfair.

Takes faith.

There is, however, another postscript we might add to the rebellion of Quora.

Are you familiar with the phrase, the sons of Quora?

That phrase appears in the book of Psalms.

It's actually the title of 11 different Psalms attributed to the sons or descendants of Quora. Though God had destroyed Quora in his rebellion, it seems he still had a purpose for Quora's descendants, for those children that he did not kill.

Now, if you remember a little bit more of the history of the Old Testament, the kingdom of David and of Solomon, you may remember that during the reign of King David, the sons of Quora became important leaders in Quora and instrumental music used in worship at the tabernacle and then later in the temple during Solomon's reign. Among the Psalms the sons of Quora wrote is Psalm 42, which contains a beautiful line, as the deer pants for the water, brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. That's one of the Psalms of the sons of Quora. Isn't it nice that God kept them alive?

David also appointed Haman. It's spelled H-E-M-A-N. Looks like he-man, but that sounds kind of weird. So I say hey man. That may sound weird too. H-E-M-A-N. Haman. He was one of the sons of Quora, and as one of three men, he was appointed to oversee the musical arrangements.

Haman would later be known as a seer of Davids and of psalmons. He'd become known as a highly talented musician. He authored Psalm 88. And Haman was nearly as wise as Solomon, we're told, in Scripture. Haman, the son of Quora, was also the grandson of the prophet Samuel.

Samuel was the descendant of Quora.

So is God unjust in allowing the children of Quora to live?

No, absolutely not. God can never be unjust.

In whatever God's reasons were, we don't know. That's in God's mind. Maybe one day we'll learn. But in many ways, the history of Quora and his descendants clearly reveals the justice and mercy of God. That we do know. That we do know. So, we've considered these examples. We consider evidence of God's justice and fairness. Sometimes, even though we don't quite understand it, it is.

So let's answer some of the questions I posed at the beginning. What can we be doing that will help us and our children cope with life's unfairness and injustice? What can we do to endure through these tough times we have when others oppress us and treat us cruelly and unfairly? When they disrespect us and our families, our loved ones? When they try to discourage our trust and faith in God? What do we do? What can we do?

More than ever, we need to be drawing nearer to God. We need to be drawing nearer to God. We need to be strengthening our relationship with Him.

From our reading today, we see that God's people stay focused on God. They prayed, they repented, they trusted in God for help and deliverance. When discouraged by life's injustice, they turned to God for that encouragement and strength. They're too weak by themselves, just as we are. They reinforced their relationship with God. So, yes, each one of us needs to be praying, studying, fasting, and meditating on God's Word.

We need to be doing what God says to do to make our lives in alignment with God.

We need to be striving as we draw nearer to God to practice and do what He says. And we can only do that with the help of His Holy Spirit.

But we have to know this, and this is very important. No one else can build our relationship with God for us.

No one else can build our relationship with God for us.

No helicopter mom or dad.

No minister.

No spouse.

No friend can do it for us. We have to do it ourselves, brethren.

We each must do it for ourselves. God holds each and every individual personally accountable for doing so, and that includes our young people.

Our relationship with God is the most precious thing we have. In some ways, it's the only real thing we have, and it will last forever.

We also must stay focused on God. Maybe repeating myself a little bit here from the first point, but we need to stay focused on God. We belong to God. We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We are not to be of the world, though, yes, we must live in it for a time. Therefore, we must be extremely cautious of getting caught up in the acrimony of politics and that disparaging, toxic, frankly anxiety-causing conspiracy theories that are out there, the numbing talk shows and journalism, which really is nothing more than gossip of the world. It's deadly poison. Yes, we must be aware of what's happening around us. We can't turn our eyes or our noses entirely away from it.

But we must be focused on God and learning His word, practicing. That's where our attention must firmly be. And finally, we must be building stronger bonds within our families and with our brethren, with one another.

We need to spend quality time with one another because it's when we're unfairly treated, when we're abused by others, and hopefully none of that abuse ever occurs among us as brethren or within our families. But when we are pummeled by the world and its injustice and unfairness, we're going to need each other. We need each other now, frankly, don't we?

We don't have to let the world in its ways have such a big influence of our lives. So instead of—well, you fill in the blank.

Instead of blank, let's build bonds with one another.

You know, it's not up to the church leadership to continue to be giving opportunities to do things, to do fellowship. We have things we can do on our own, right? We are responsible for ourselves as well. But to help us along, we do, as congregations, work together to provide opportunities for fellowship, and I'm frankly very glad for them. I know we all are. So over the weeks and months ahead, let's make some good choices, brethren. Let's stay for family night. I don't think there will be much problem with that tonight. We've got potluck. Let's come to Bible study. I know it's hard to do for all of you. But come if you can. Let's go bowling!

Some of you are going to pummel me in bowling. Actually, I'm not going to be here that weekend. My bad. Sorry. But you would pummel me in bowling if I were here. And then, let's not forget that oldie but goodie. You know what that is? That oldie but goodie? We used to do a lot of it when years gone by. We used to invite one another into our homes for a meal and conversation.

It's a blessing to have a congregational building like this, but it's also nice to have people into our homes. That's an oldie, but boy, is that a goodie. And let's pray for one another. Let's help one another. Let's all find a way to serve as we're able.

And as I conclude, I have one more thought to share. And I'd like to return to something I said at the very beginning of our sermon about telling our kids that life isn't fair. Perhaps we should change that up a little bit, so it's not quite so harsh.

Perhaps this is something we should also do. I wonder if, instead of telling our kids that life isn't fair, suck it up, buttercup, and all that mess, maybe we ought to be a little less harsh and a little less cynical. Maybe we ought to be more realistic with them, keeping our eyes on God and our hope of eternal life. Let's tell our kids and ourselves something more along these lines.

Yes, Johnny, life doesn't always seem fair, but let's you and I do what we can to make it better, the way God wants things to be. We'll do what we can to make things right, and the rest we'll take to God.

God will do only what is best, Johnny. God is always fair.