When Life is Not Fair

I have a topic that I know affects all of us, even when we were little kids as well. The title of my sermon is, When Life is Not Fair. I don't know if that's ever happened to you. When life is not fair. We parents do the best we can, don't we, to raise our children. I realize some of us are kids are grown and have kids of their own. And in some ways, our time of rearing is over, but not really so.

As grandparents, grandparents, great-grandparents, even, we have a profound impact on our children. Even if we don't think we do, children watch, grandchildren watch everything you do. And when you think they're not watching, I think we've learned they really are. And so we do recognize the influence we have on our children. And we've done our best, and we do our best we can, to rear them in the right way that they should go, and according to God's way of life. Some of the things we taught them when they were we little ones, likely are the basic things. Principles that would help them have a foundation and a really good way of life.

We taught them things. Well, if you're like me, and these are some things we taught them. Put your toys away. You know, clean up. Wash your hands. Say you're sorry. Say your prayers. And we wanted them to also, we were very clear that they listened to daddy. Do what mommy says. We wanted them to learn obedience. So we also wanted them to learn to trust mom and dad, and do it. They are told. These are just very basic, simple ways. These are principles founded on God's word of life, His commandments.

And God expects each of us to have that similar principle when He speaks to us. Then they grow up, and we must teach them how to get along with other people. Sometimes the other siblings, sometimes kids at school, and what have you. So we might add to their instruction such phrases as, be kind, play fair, follow the rules. And we may have taught them something about how cheaters never win. We want you to play fair. Again, these are basic principles of God's law. We want them to understand there's a correct way to love your neighbor.

There's a correct way to be fair and just, just like God is with all of us, His children. Yet, even as we teach our children and taught our children to always do the right thing and to be good, one day we will hear our children exclaim, and you've probably heard these words before. They're well known. The words, that's not fair. Am I the only one that's heard that? I am. Okay, no. Oh, you're agreeing with me. Okay, good. That's not fair. And then we parents in our vast wisdom and profound compassion, we'll reply with those equally wise and well-known words, right?

What do we say? Life's not fair, right? We may even add a few words of encouragement, such as, sorry, that's just the way it is. Life's not fair. Might even say, get used to it. And then there's the infamous phrase I heard growing up, learn to suck it up. And sometimes they throw in the word buttercup, learn to suck it up, buttercup.

That's just the way life is. Life is not always fair. Now, such instruction can be very harsh in the years of a three-year-old. Suck it up. You're three years old. But my experience has been it's also hard to accept at any age, isn't it? Whether you're 14 or 19, 59, 89. It's hard when life is not fair.

So a question I have today, what do we do when confronted with the fact that life is not fair? Usually we respond in ways that are not always very effective, and maybe not always in ways that are very godly either. That's what I did, and that's what I still do from time to time. I remember one of the clearest memories I have of life not being fair, just so young people understand, I do know what it means.

I think it was in third grade when I was met with the oppressive bullying of a kid. I think his name was Bruce. I've tried to remember, I guess it says something about bullying, you forget their names in time, but I think his name is Bruce. I was in third grade, I think, and I do remember he was in fifth grade, a couple years older than me, and I distinctly remember he was the only fifth grader with a black peach fuzz mustache. If that tells you anything.

Yeah. And we rode the school bus together back and forth, and to my dread, Bruce would usually sit right behind me on the bus. He always made sure he sat behind me, and he'd proceed to flick my ears, which tended to stick out, and you know, the spitballs and the tugging, the teasing, always trying to get a rise out of me. Now, my mom and dad had always taught me to be a good kid. Be good. Never start a fight. But if a fight started and you couldn't avoid your way out of it, you needed to defend yourself.

You needed to take a stand, as it were. And of course I did, but what I learned through time that, like many words we parents tell our children, they're easier said than done sometimes, aren't they? So I did the best I could, and I learned that it didn't always work right. Sometimes when I'd hit Bruce, he'd hit back harder. You ever had that experience? And I'd yell out in my little third grade voice, stop it! Then he just hit harder. Now, we did have a bus driver, of course, an older gentleman, and by the time he knew what was going on, Bruce was getting off the bus.

And on a rarity, he would actually make Bruce sit in the front row, much to my relief. But shortly after, Bruce would always get out of the front seat, over time, and come back and pasture me. I didn't handle it very well. I didn't know what to do. I don't even think I told my mom and dad about it, because they told me to, you know, you need to take care of things your own way. Best you can. My problem was finally solved, not because I prayed about it. I didn't know to pray to God back then.

But I was finally relieved when my tormentor moved to a different bus route, and I guess he picked on another kid there. I don't know. But that was my delivery, and I was very happy about it. I did learn some things from that bullying. I could have become a bully myself, but I didn't. I learned that I never wanted to bully other people, because I knew, and I still feel it, I feel very much this strong sense of injustice and unfairness when it happens. It is not pleasant, and I don't want to do that to anybody.

And I think that should be our aim for all this. We don't want to afflict other people as a bully, and our families are outside of our families, even. I didn't respond real well back then, and so again, I wonder, and I want to talk to you today, about what should we do. What should we do when fairness and injustice seem turned upside down, and we're doing nothing, but yet we get afflicted with these things. What should we do when we find ourselves wronged or oppressed? What should we do when we find ourselves wronged or oppressed? We're going to look at Scripture, and two examples to help us learn what to do when life is not fair. And the first one I'd like for you to turn with me to is the book of Numbers, and it's going to be the example of Moses.

It's the incident Moses was confronted with, the injustice he faced when confronted by a man named Korah and a number of rebels, you might say. In fact, it's called Korah's Rebellion, so I think it's fair to say they were rebels, in a sense.

So, number 16. We're going to read this account of Korah's Rebellion, and I'd like for us to pay particular attention to how Moses responded. I think he sets for us a rather good example to begin with. The rebels thought they were just rebelling against Moses's. That's kind of hard to say, isn't it? Moses's. They thought they were rebelling against the authority of Moses, but they're really rebelling against the authority of God. They didn't understand it at that moment. Let's read the account and pay close attention to what Moses did, numbers 16 and 1 through 5 to begin with. Now Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and on, the son of Hellath, the sons of Reuben. This is a family thing. A lot of families involved here. Sons of Reuben, they took men, and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel. 250 leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. So these were really well-known men. These were influential men in the congregation of Israel. They gathered together, verse 3, against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, Moses and Aaron, 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? When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. He wasn't passing out. He was so abhorred by what he heard, he dropped immediately in prayer to God. He understood what they were saying, though they did not, it seems.

Moses, in many ways, knew that they were attacking God's authority, and they were also attacking him. In fact, that's all they saw them doing, themselves doing, is attacking Moses. Instead of supporting Moses, Korah and these 250 leaders were wronging him and inadvertently wronging God. They accused Moses of taking upon himself the leadership of God's people. And their words reveal, frankly, that they did not accept that God was involved in choosing Moses and Aaron. And how did Moses react? Well, he did not lash out. He did not hit back. He did not throw accusations back at them, much as well as I, as a little kid, did, and I, as a grown man, might feel tempted to do. He did not try to defend himself against their false accusations. Instead, he fell to the ground before God, and he prayed to God in whom he trust and obeyed. And when he does reply to the rebels, as we see in verse 5, he's actually speaking the words of God's instruction. It's as if God must have given him the presence of mind, the understanding to do this. Verse 5, Moses tells him, he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, tomorrow morning the Lord will show—I don't want to read it this way—tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His and who is holy, and will cause Him to come near Him. That one whom he chooses, he will cause to come near to Him. Moses made very clear this is not his choice. This is God's choosing of who is leading. Moses himself, though, was angry. He was human. He was offended profoundly.

He was offended and angry about the rebels' audacity in accusing him of being self-serving, selfish in what he was doing. If we have ever been falsely accused of something, I think we can understand why Moses might feel angry. In fact, let's look at verse 15, same chapter in verse 15. Then Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, Do not respect their offering. I have not taken not even one donkey from them.

And have I hurt one of them? He says, no, he's done nothing to these men to deserve this. But Moses took his complaint to God. He's angry. He's upset. He took his complaint to God. He did not take matters into his own hands. That's a pretty profound lesson here.

Now the conflict continued the next day in verse 18. Let's read.

So every man took his censure, these 250 in the core as well. They 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, them meaning Moses and Aaron, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to the congregation, and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. But just snap of the finger, he was going to take care of the problem once and for all. God was angry. Surely he was angry with them. He was prepared to destroy all Israel, though.

And not just these wicked and presuming men. This was not the first time he put up with complaining Israelites. What did Moses and Aaron do? Again, they immediately prayed for all the people.

Then they fell on their faces, in supplication we would add, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and you be angry with all the congregation?

And so the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the congregation, saying, Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

God listened to Moses and Aaron. 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 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 faith 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 to the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord. They haven't rejected Moses. Well, they have, but ultimately they've rejected the Lord. And so all are going to see proof evident who is chosen leader, according to God's will. Verse 31, He now 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 with their households, and all the men with chorah, 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, I would run too. And a fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. He took care of those 250 leaders as well.

And so we see rather late Korah and the other rebellious leaders learned indeed that they had actually rejected God. But God had good reason for calling the children of Israel a stiff-necked people, as we're about to see, because the rebellion continued on the next day. This wasn't a matter of a few hours. It continued on. They were indeed very stubborn. Let's look down to verse 41 now. See, on the next day, all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, and notice what they're going to be accused of now, and it's rather, well, it's another false accusation, and it seems rather foolish as well when you think about it. Here's what they accused them of doing now. They complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, you have killed the people of the Lord. Moses and Aaron did that. Hmm. Verse 42. Now it happened when the congregation gathered against Moses and Aaron that they turned toward the Tabernacle 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. Again, God is ready to annihilate all of them. All of them.

And Moses and Aaron fall on their faces. Again, Moses and Aaron prayed an intercession for the people.

Despite how they'd been mistreated, Moses and Aaron worked, they took action to save the people. They put aside their own anger and worked to save the people, the children of Israel. Verse 46. Moses said to Aaron, take a censer 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, and he stood between the dead and the living, so the plague was stopped. Verse 49. Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides or in addition to those who died in the Korah incident.

And so Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle meeting, for the plague had stopped.

Pretty terrible outcome for these rebels who falsely accused Moses and Aaron of injustice.

And this account is rather sobering.

It's meant to be sobering. It's meant to make us stop and think.

What should we stop and think about when we read this account? Well, I'll share with you some of the things that came to my mind as I read this. What I wonder about immediately is for myself, and I'll throw all of us into this, could the attitude of Korah creep into our hearts, into my heart, into all our hearts?

Would we ever presume to know God's will?

Would we ever be so stubborn as to defy God's authority?

Well, it's possible. We are human. We like to have things our way sometimes. And I say that also because of the times we are living in and the sort of things we hear all the time on the radio and if you watch television, if you can stand to watch TV news anymore. When we glance at society in recent months, so practically the last two years or so, we almost get a sense that there is an attitude of Korah and other rebellious things increasingly prevalent in our society around us. Now, we live in society, but we're not to be of society.

But have you noticed that people are taking upon themselves the roles of judge and jury? People are very quick to declare who is right, who is wrong, who is guilty, who is innocent. People are very quick to decide what is fair, what is just, sometimes even against written law. There are many loud voices in violence, too, that try to force their idea of fairness upon others.

Could such attitudes and ways rub off on us?

You know, some even endeavor to take on the role of God by asserting that they alone know the truth of what lies only within the hearts and minds of others. They say, well, I know what He was doing. I know what He meant. And then they also have very little compassion for who is harmed in their name of fairness, in their name of justice. In some ways, it seems that there are more bullies than ever in society around us. Some of them are other prominent men and women in society, and they're trying to force others to comply with their values and their beliefs. It's upsetting for us, especially when we recognize some of those values they are against are well-founded in God's Word and according to His commandments of love. A lesson for us to learn is that we must not allow such arrogant approaches and attitudes, thinking we know it all, to creep into our own hearts and minds. That lesson about Korah and the rebels is there for all of us to be thinking about. In contrast, we look at the example of Moses and of Aaron. Moses remained faithful to God through all the rebellion through those days. Moses and Aaron both prayed, and just the account we have, we get a sense they prayed a lot. They hit the dirt a lot of times, you might say, before God, and not praying for themselves, but praying for their brethren, who maybe did not fully understand what was going on. Perhaps that's a thought for us. We need to be praying for people in our society who don't really know what they're doing.

Moses and Aaron trusted totally in God's judgment and mercy to deal with the rebels. And though falsely accused of injustice, they were accused of selfish ambition, even of murder, Moses always trusted God to bring about justice. He didn't try to take matters into his own hands. And so a lesson for us to learn is that we must look to God. We must trust Him with our prayers and with our faithful obedience. And it means we may need to do some repenting of our own at times to stay right with God. We can have confidence in God knowing that He will strengthen us to get through whatever challenges, whatever unfairness it seems we are facing at the moment. He will make things right. We just have to be patient. We have to wait some time.

Let's also look at another person now, another individual who suffered injustice and mistreatment in the hands of his own people. And that person is Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah. If you turn with me now, please, to Jeremiah chapter 1.

Jeremiah chapter 1.

Jeremiah was a man who suffered a lot of injustice and mistreatment at the hands of his own people.

He had a long and close relationship with God as well, though. Jeremiah served God since from before he could remember, we might say, since from a youth. And he continued to serve God all the days he lived. We don't know exactly when he died, but we know he was quite an old man, advanced in age. Let's read chapter 1 of Jeremiah, verse 4 through 8. Verse 4, This is what God is saying about Jeremiah.

This is Jeremiah saying, He was a young man. He felt very, perhaps he felt it was unfair of God to put him in a position where he had to go out and speak to people. I'm just a young kid. What do I know? But God knows what he's doing, no matter when he calls us, whatever age we are. God knew that Jeremiah would face some very difficult challenges. He was setting Jeremiah out to accomplish a great task. But, as we also see, God promised to be with him, to make him strong and resilient against any and all of the people's assaults against him. He knew the people would turn against Jeremiah. We look in verses 17 through 19, still in chapter 1. Look what God told him. This is meant to encourage him in his task. Verse 17, he says, I'm going to be with you. You stick with me and I will stick with you, God's telling Jeremiah. Beloved, I have made you this day as a fortified city, as 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, Jeremiah, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.

And did Jeremiah speak to the people? We know he did. The entire book filled with prophecies. Time and time again, he spoke to the people. He prophesied to them about the imminent fall of Judah. He spoke to them about their upcoming exile. And he also spoke to them about God's promise of their return. God called Jeremiah for this very special service to him. Jeremiah never asked to be called of God. He never asked for that calling. God chose him. He never asked to be a prophet. Maybe you understand a little bit about this, but when you believe God and know that God himself has called you, what else should you really do but humbly accept God's will? I think you catch my meaning. God has called us as well. We might think we went looking for it, but the Bible tells us the Father calls us. He calls us, and God knows what he's doing. To be a servant of God requires a special person. God knows what type of person that takes. God alone knows who is best qualified. God does not call just anybody. He does not call us for failure. And here we see that Jeremiah's God-given task was most difficult. When you read this entire book, you will find many instances where Jeremiah suffered nearly constant ridicule, constant hostility from others, and all he was doing was announcing the righteous judgments of God. He was communicating to the people God's Word, and he suffered for that. He suffered their contempt. In fact, he suffered contempt from about everyone, even his own family members. His own family turned against him. He was also placed in prison. He was beaten a number of times. His life was threatened. He thought he would perish for sure, and at the last moment to him, it seemed God intervened and saved him in ways he never expected. Would it be right for us to say that what happened to him would seem to be not fair? He might say it wasn't fair what happened to him. He didn't go looking for that. But Jeremiah took his complaints to God, who is just and who is always fair. That is a big lesson for us to learn. We may not always understand totally what God is doing, but God knows. God is fair and just. He will take care of us. He will help us through whatever it is we go through. But we also see we can take our complaints and take our problems to God.

Let's look at what Jeremiah did to back up that statement. In Jeremiah 15, verse 10, we find one of Jeremiah's complaints to God. Jeremiah 15, 10. Sometimes we read scripture, and we might imagine that these men and women and children in these pages are like storybook characters or some kind of superhero that's fictionalized. That is not true. These were real men and women like you and me. They had fear. They were intimidated. They were scared. And yet God worked with them and helped them to conquer those fears and to develop greater and more profound trust in him. In Jeremiah 15, 10, we find this scripture, these words.

It helps them on the right page. There it is. And what we find here is a traditional way of expressing your profound fear, your profound regret that you were ever born. And it's placed in this traditional expression. It's a traditional expression of regret, one the speaker does to his mother, as if he's saying, Mom, why did you ever have me born? Why were I ever born? But it's a traditional expression. We see it a lot of times in ancient poetry, and we see it here in Jeremiah. He says in Jeremiah 15, 10, he says, Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. He's saying the whole earth hates me because I'm a bone of contention to them. I have neither lent for interest nor have men lent to me for interest, saying, you know, I've done nothing in my works to people to cause any grief. I haven't even made a bad loan or anything like that, and yet every one of them curses me. And so this is just one of many times Jeremiah is taking his complaint to God. Let's also look at verses 15 through 18 here in this same chapter. We also read an example of Jeremiah's profound and heartfelt prayer to God, another example of how he took his troubles to God in a very profound and serious way. And that's what he says here in verse 15, and I'm going to pause after reading this first line. He says to God, oh Lord, you know. And I love to stop there, because sometimes that's about all I feel I can get out in my troubles. Do you ever do that? Father, you know.

Those few words say a lot. You know what I'm going through. Jeremiah is saying he knows that God knows all that he has done and all that he is suffering and has suffered. Words cannot express his experiences. And then Jeremiah continues asking this case for God's intervention and care, and he says, remember me. Remember me and visit me. Remember me and visit me. And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. He's asking God to avenge him. He's not seeking a vengeance on his own. He's asking God to take care of anything that needs to be done to his prosecutors. He says, in your enduring patience, also do not take me away. What does he mean there? Do not take me away. Some translations suggest it means do not let me die. Do not let this be the end of me. He says, know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke. He's reminding God what he's suffering, but perhaps he's also reminding himself that this is part of his calling. God has placed him here, and he seems to know that suffering for righteousness sake was part of his calling as well. And Jeremiah then recalls how he first delighted in God's word. We see that in verse 16. He remembers back when things were a little less heavy on him. Jeremiah tells God in verse 16, 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 hosts. Some see this, and perhaps some of us can relate to this as Jeremiah's first love for God's word, much as we experienced that when God first called us, and we were beginning to understand what that meant and the reason we had for rejoicing in God's forgiveness and love. Then in verse 17, he calls to God's attention how he has lived. A rather sad life in the eyes of others. His life has been a lonely life. He has spent carousing with those who make fun of God in his righteousness. Look what he says in verse 17. He says, I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers. Mockers are a special type of people that criticize those that do obey God. They make fun of those who are trying to live a godly life. They have no reverence for God themselves. Jeremiah says, I didn't sit with them. I didn't act like they did. Nor did I rejoice in the suffering of others. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation. It gives us a sense that part of the reason he was also isolated and alone is because people rejected him. They didn't want him a part of their lives. The life of a prophet can be a very lonely thing. And I wonder sometimes, maybe as God's people, sometimes I feel a bit isolated. I'm looking at some of the young people growing up through school. I'm sure sometimes you felt rather isolated and cut off from others, not accepted by others. That happens to us adults, too, at times, by the way. And it's okay. We're right with God, that's what really matters. And so he continues on because now he's, verse 18, he's expressing this profound pain, this suffering. It's kind of overwhelming him at this point. And he says some things that God is going to say. You need to think about what you're saying. Look what he says here. He says, verse 18, Why is my pain perpetual in my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?

He seems to be referring to this endless suffering, this endless trouble that he has to be putting himself into, or that God keeps allowing him to be in, of announcing these prophecies, of being rejected and mistreated by people for doing what God says. When will this suffering, when will my grief end? And then he says this. He asks this question here, this final few lines here, and this question is important. Verse 18 still, he says, Will you, God, will you surely be to me like an unreliable stream? Will you be like as waters that fail?

Now he's been lamenting what seems to him at times, perhaps, an unfair affliction from those who mock and despise him. But here, his final question to God, though sincere and heartfelt, was not a very wise thing to say, although heartfelt, because he's suggesting that God is not reliable. He's suggesting that God was not trustworthy. Now we may understand why he says that, and I think God shows that he understands it too, but he's also going to tell Jeremiah, you shouldn't be saying things like that or even thinking that.

Now, earlier on, he wants to know, God, are you listening to me? He's wondering, God, are you hearing my question? I think we get the answer. God was listening. God was definitely near and listening to Jeremiah. And what is God's response to this particular question by Jeremiah here in verse 18? Well, he essentially tells Jeremiah, you need to repent. You need to repent of something. Look at verse 19. Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return, then I will bring you back. If you return, some translations have, if you turn back, the new international version, NIV, actually says, if you repent, then I will bring you back. You shall stand before me. If you take out the precious from the vial, you shall be as my mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them. It's a scripture challenging to understand. I've read various translations, tried to get at the original words, other resources. What seems to be the gist of it is that Jeremiah was very weary and despaired, but he had made the mistake in essence of doubting God's trustworthiness. In here, God is rather kindly correcting him. He's kindly correcting him for doubting him, even for this little moment.

He's saying, if you repent of your words, if you kind of get back to what your focus should be, then I will allow you, God would allow Jeremiah the privilege to continue to serve him, to continue being his mouthpiece, to continue to take this message of repentance to the children of Israel, to Judah in particular.

A lesson I think we can learn from this is an important lesson.

No matter how weary we may become in doing good, no matter how much we may suffer, even if we think we're suffering unjustly, God expects our commitment and trust in him to be steadfast. Even in our weakness, even in our suffering, God still expects us to obey him, to be repentant to him. In some ways, when I think about this, it reminds me that just because I'm not feeling good or I'm in good plight, I don't necessarily get off the hook with God. I still have to keep his commandments. We still have to keep doing what God says. Even though it may be a huge challenge, God is going to be there to help us through it. And then God reaffirmed the promise he had made with Jeremiah. As we read earlier, it gets repeated here in verses 20 through 21. And I think God is doing this to remind him, I told you this a long time ago. It hasn't changed. I'm telling this to you now, Jeremiah. Verse 20-21, I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall, and they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you. No matter how tough it's going to get, Jeremiah, I'm not leaving you.

I will 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. And so Jeremiah surely had a great task to perform in service to God, and he did suffer terribly and endured much affliction. And when we read the entirety of the book, especially the words, Jeremiah is constantly in communication with God throughout his trials, we find over and over again, Jeremiah moves from deep despair to great exhilaration before God. Ups and downs, ups and downs. It reminds me a lot about what I could go through in our lives when you think about it. We too have our ups and downs. Yet through it all, God remained loyal to Jeremiah. He made Jeremiah like a bronze wall. He was this strong pillar. God did deliver him, and we see that over and over again. God was faithful, and Jeremiah remained faithful and true to his calling. His example should remind us that living life in obedience to God as a servant of God, and some of us know this very well, it's not always easy, and it's going to be filled with difficulties. And in living in submission to God means that we will suffer injustice. We will experience terrible times of life not being fair, but we need to remember God is there through it all. When I thought of these words, I often wonder whether we are being realistic sometimes about how we are to live God's way of life. The evils we read about, the terrible times people go through in Scripture, it seems again we can treat this like a storybook. It's not a storybook. We go through some very terrible times ourselves, but I wonder if sometimes we think that we're excused from having suffering. Sometimes we might think that we're always supposed to be comfortable. We're always supposed to be having good times. And if you're a young person, you might especially think that arthritis hasn't set in yet. The aches and pains that are a natural part of this process of aging that God has allowed to us, that doesn't always seem fair to us sometimes, and we can't get our shoes on as easily in the morning as we might like. We might come to think that life is supposed to be easy because we do obey God, that bad things shouldn't happen to us because we are living life God's way. We might even come to think that we should not and will not suffer because we're living life God's way. That assumption isn't quite correct. If you turn with me to John 15 verses 19 through 21. John 15 verses 19 through 21.

Jesus was very clear on this fact, and we're going to see Paul repeating it as well. Same idea.

You probably read over these lines during Passover season in Days of Unleavened Bread. John 15, 19 through 21. But we need to think about these words often. Jesus said this, Jesus said, If you are of the world, speaking to his disciples, 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. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know him who sent me. Let's tie into this. Also, 2 Timothy 3, 12. Paul is writing here to Timothy, and his words are still as fresh and meaningful to us today. 2 Timothy 3 verse 12.

He says, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. A reference to we're going to be persecuted, ridiculed. Some of us as children, young people, some of us as adults, we're persecuted for our beliefs, and it's not fair. We try to be good people, godly people, and we get picked on and afflicted. That's part of what we were promised. We weren't promised a good and easy life as much as I'd really like that, and I do like that. It's not what's promised to us. They're sobering promises.

But like Jeremiah did, God wants us to come to him. We can go to our Father. He's very merciful, very compassionate. He's always awake. He's always aware of what we're going through, and we can take our problems to him. Our part is to continue to believe and to obey God. That's a very simple definition of faith. To believe what God says and to do what God says. No matter what, no matter the trial, no matter the suffering, we must know and believe that God is with us and that God will only allow to us that which ultimately is the best for us and the best for others. We have to believe that.

And so God's people learn to trust God to bring about justice and even bring about vengeance. It's part of what we see in Scripture. He will avenge us for those who oppress us and persecute us.

And the point we've seen again and again, we must be careful not to take matters into our own hands. Could you imagine, for example, what might have happened if Moses had taken matters into his own hands instead of falling before God in prayer and letting God deal with it?

If Moses had not trusted God to deal with Korah and the other rebels, he might have had them executed himself. He might have executed all the families, all the children. Because what you're going to see is something I'll point out here.

God did not kill all the entire families of all the rebels, just a few of them. But Moses trusted God. He must have known that things would work out better by trusting God. And I think we know that. We just have to live it. And that's the challenge at times. To illustrate my point further, let's consider Korah's rebellion again. But this time, I'd like for us to look at how it's described in Numbers 26, verses 9-11.

It's summarized again in Numbers 26, verses 9-11. A little bit different angle, different perspective.

And I want to draw out and emphasize something that may not occur to us in our first reading that we read earlier.

Numbers 26, verse 9-11. The sons of Eliah were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram, representatives of the congregation who contended against against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah when they contended against the Lord. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men and they became a sign.

Notice verse 11. Nevertheless, the children of Korah did not die. Did you catch that? The children of Korah did not die.

Hundreds died that day with Korah, including the wives, the sons, and the little children of Dathan and Abiram. That's what it said in Numbers 16. We read that earlier. Thousands of others died from the plague the next day, but God kept alive the children of Korah.

Well, is that fair? That doesn't quite seem fair. We might say from a human point of view, I would quickly add. Now, why did God execute justice this way? I don't know. I don't know. I can't fully grasp the mind of God. I can't always comprehend His justice and righteousness. Now, I could speculate, but I won't. Speculation can get me and others of us in trouble. But I can't see what is said here. I can say that from a human point of view, humanly speaking, God's actions seem unfair here, that He did not also take the lives of Korah's children.

But what I do know is that this can't be unfair because I believe, as you believe and trust, that God is righteous, God is fair, God is love. This is not unfair. He had a good reason for doing this, though we might not comprehend it. That's an important lesson. We might not always comprehend why God does what He does, but we have to trust Him that it was and is the right thing and will be the right thing. But if I could add this one more thing. This could be another postscript, I think when we write. We used to write letters years ago and used to put P-S and then P-S. People don't write letters much like they used to, but anyway. If I can add a second postscript, I think you'll find this interesting. A second postscript to the rebellion of Korah. Are you familiar with the phrase, the sons of Korah?

You heard the phrase, the sons of Korah? That phrase appears in the book of Psalms. That's where you hear it. It's in the titles of 11 different Psalms attributed to the sons of Korah, sons meaning descendants of Korah. So though God had destroyed Korah and his rebellion, we get a hint that he still had a purpose for Korah's descendants. He must have had a purpose for Korah's descendants. During the reign of King David, the sons of Korah were important leaders in the choral and instrumental music used in worship at the tabernacle and then later in the temple. Among the Psalms they wrote is Psalm 42.

Psalm 42 begins that beautiful line As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. My experience in the United Church, God, that's one of our favorite hymns, is it not?

We tend to sing it a lot. That was written by the sons of Korah, Psalm 42.

Now David also appointed one of the sons of Korah. He appointed one of them a man named Hemin. H-E-M-A-M. H-E-M-A-N. I never know how to pronounce it. It would say He-Man, which sounds really masculine. Or was it Hemin? I don't know. It's hard to know.

Hemin, because it doesn't sound so funny to my ears instead of He-Man, was one of the sons of Korah. He was one of only three men to oversee all the musical arrangements. Hemin would also later be known as one of the most talented musicians in Israel. He would also become known as a seer. S-E-E-R. A seer is a variation of a prophet. He'd give inspirational probably singing, poetry, and he probably spoke with some prophetic ability. There is also mention of Hemin as being only one person wiser than Hemin in Israel. Do you know how that one wiser person was? Solomon. Only Solomon, we are told in Scripture, is wiser than Hemin, one of the sons of Korah. And then you can jot this down. I'm not going to take time to read it with you, but if you would, later today or sometime later, read this little section of son-ofs and son-ofs and son-ofs in 1 Chronicles 6 verses 33 through 38. In 1 Chronicles 33-38, Hemin, you'll find there, was the grandson of the prophet Samuel. He is the grandson of the prophet Samuel.

And something else that kind of struck my interest. Samuel was also a descendant of Korah.

Samuel is also a descendant of Korah. You read those verses, you'll see. And so when I put all that together and I've placed it before you, was God unjust in allowing the children of Korah to live?

Well, we know the answer is no, because God cannot be unjust. But when you step back and look at the postscript and a second postscript, you start looking at this and it just makes me sit up straight and recognize God absolutely knows far better than me. He knows far better than any of us what He's doing. And I guess for me, it encourages me, and I hope this would encourage you to recognize that what God is doing with us, we cannot comprehend. But we may see the fruit of it years later in our lives, maybe in the lives of our children or our descendants that we don't know about yet. And so we need to keep a bigger perspective. We need to have a more devout appreciation, I believe, for what God is doing.

I think when life treats us unfairly, we need to remember more than ever that God is going to make sure it turns out okay. We shouldn't doubt.

Now, I asked earlier, what should we be doing when life is unfair? I would think we should be doing three things, and I'll put these in a little way to help us remember now. More than ever, we should be drawing nearer to God.

When life is unfair, and it seems like it's always unfair at times, we need to be drawing nearer to God. We need to strengthen our relationship with Him. It's a very unique relationship. Not many people have a relationship with God like God has afforded to us. We'll learn from reading today that we need to stay focused on God.

When discouraged by life's injustice, the people of old, the people of God like Jeremiah, Moses, and others, they turn to God. They reinforce their relationship with Him through those tools we've been taught. I hope we all practice prayer and Bible study, fasting, meditation, and other things will work, by the way, unless you do something else, unless you also are practicing repentance. They're just exercises and learning about God. They're useless unless you're using them to help us turn back to God. We must be strengthening God's Holy Spirit with us, God's Spirit in us. And I'd also add this. It's very important. No one else can build our relationship with God for us. No minister can do that for you. I can't do that for you. Your spouse can't do it for you. No child can do it for you. No friend can do it for you. Only you can build your relationship with God. We can help you. Glad to do that. But only you can actually build that relationship, drawing near to God. Second thing we should do is stay focused on God in our calling. Don't take our calling for granted. It's very unique, very precious, worth more than anything else we might have in this life. We belong to God. We're ambassadors of Jesus Christ, we're told. We're in the world, but we're not to let it get to us. We're not to be of it. I'd encourage us to be extremely cautious of getting caught up in all the politics, and all the bitterness, and all the anger that's going on in the world around us. I guess it's always been there, but it just strikes me as of late as becoming much worse. We must be very careful of letting that influence our attitudes. We need to stay away from the anxiety-causing conspiracy theories out there. It's really, in some ways, it just strikes me as there's a lot of highfalutin gossip out there. It's gossip. It's hearsay. It just gets us worried, and upset. Yes, we need to understand what's going on. We need to be aware, but we need to be very careful. Something I kind of think of in my mind. I'm listening to the news on TV. I kind of hold my nose while I'm listening, just to make sure I'm aware, but I'm not being overwhelmed by some of that stuff. Finally, we should build a stronger relationship, a godly relationship with our brethren. It's very important that we not think we're out against the world all by ourselves. We are not alone. We need to spend quality time with one another, because in times when life seems unfair and unjust, we really need each other. Sometimes we need a shoulder to cry on. We need someone as a sounding board to hear us out. We don't want to be alone. There may not be anybody quite like you sitting next to each other to hear the other person's going through. We know we should know what it's like, and we can do a lot to encourage one another. We need to pray for one another. We need to find ways of serving. We need to encourage one another during the week, and share in good godly fellowship, especially on the Sabbath. Very precious time. And whatever we do, we can't let the world in its poisonous, toxic way stifle God's spirit, God's goodness and strength in us.

So I hope I've been able to share something of value and may be helpful for us as we face unfair times in our lives. But as I conclude, I'd like to return to what I said earlier about telling our kids life isn't fair. Remember? So I'm trying to think for myself, and I'll share this with you. Instead of telling our children in ourselves over and over again that life isn't fair, which may be true at times, or seem to be unfair, maybe we ought to be a little less cynical. Maybe we ought to be a little less cynical in telling them just to suck it up. Just deal with it, Buttercup. Cope! That's my granddaddy, and you've got to do it, too. Well, yes, we always have to cope. But maybe we can be a little more realistic in what we tell our kids, a little more encouraging and encouraging ourselves as well, based on what we've read today. I'm thinking maybe we should say something more along these lines. This is what I'm going to try to do from now on. I'd like to be able to say things like this. Yes, Johnny, life doesn't always seem to be fair, but let's you and I do what we can to make it better the way God wants things to be.

Let's do what we can to make things right as best we can, and then let's take the rest of it to God and let Him deal with the rest of it. God will do what is best, Johnny. God is always fair.