Is God truly just?

Life is not always fair. At times, it seems as if no one is watching over the affairs of this world and that our lives are filled with events we simply don’t understand. Horrible things happen and we have little or no control over them. Evil seems to have the upper hand but is God unaware of our plight? Anyone who would dare say they have the answer for the injustice all around us would claim to know everything and we will never understand it all this side of heaven. Yet, if we look at God’s character as revealed in Scripture, we will find our confidence in Him renewed in the face of the brutality of injustice.

There are many verses in the Bible that speak about God as being a just judge but I think we begin to understand His character when we see Him in action. Job is one of the books of the Bible that speaks to me greatly when I deal with injustice. Though it seems that God haphazardly allowed Job to go through so much suffering, this book takes us behind the scenes and it opens a new perspective before us. God allowed injustice in Job’s life as a test of his character. It’s painful to think of just how much Job lost and the suffering he endured but God had a greater purpose in mind. Job was devastated when he was told about what happened to his family and possesions but He worshiped God, And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21 (esv). The Bible account also goes on to tell us that Job did not sin or blame God for his misfortune. God allowed satan to test Job because He knew how Job will respond. It’s also empowering to realize that God was not the author of this injustice and that He was in control of how much satan was allowed to test Job.

Job acknowledged that everything he had was from God and that He was to be exalted no matter what. Such an attitude honored God greatly, shaming satan’s presumptions about Him. The Bible reveals to us the greatest example of seemingly brutal injustice in the crucifixion of Jesus. Though many thought He was abandoned and Jesus Himself felt forsaken for a moment, God was displaying His merciful justice towards us. He was anything but unjust. He was God, and that is precisely why we should never stop trusting His character.