Morning Devotionals

by Don Emmitte

 

April 4th, 2008

 

"Life Is Not Fair (Part 1)"

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. (Luke 18:1-8a NIV).

Life can take some pretty rough turns and falls. Just when you think all is going well, something happens and it just doesn't seem fair! According to Victor Borge, the composer Bizet was the original hard-luck man. He stayed up nights to finish an opera by the deadline, only to find out afterwards that the production had been postponed for a year. He wrote a symphony and misplaced the manuscript before anybody could play it. He entered a composing contest with only one other entrant, and ended up with second prize. Once he went to visit his girl friend and tapped on her window at the precise moment her mother was emptying a chamber pot from the room directly above

his head! Now, that's not fair!

Have you ever noticed that some people always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Many people speculate that they would be better off with a new spouse or a different set of circumstances. John Micofsky was confident his life would be greatly improved once he ridded himself of his wife. His dream came true on January 20, 1993, when his divorce from Maryann Kulpa was finalized. On January 21st, she claimed the $10.2 million jackpot in the New Jersey Pick-6 Lottery. When the press asked about Micofsky's condition, attorney Thomas Kline spoke for his client by saying, "Very upset, I think that's the word I would use."

Do you get the feeling sometimes that life is not fair? C. S. Lewis felt that the feeling of unfairness within each of us is a signpost pointing to God. For example, when we see a movie, we want to see justice done. That is what a happy ending is usually about. We want to see wrong righted. We want to see the good guy win. And we feel cheated if virtue does not triumph. Feelings like that are so universal that Lewis felt they are evidence that we are created in the image of God. In the next few days, we'll be looking at the “fairness” of life. Even more, we'll look at the “fairness” of God.