Some of our kids’ earliest words were “That’s not fair!”  We’re born with an innate desire for justice.  We want the bad to be punished and the good to be rewarded.  Historically, justice in human society has consisted of punishment for wrongdoing and rewards for good.  That’s called retributive justice and it’s probably the best we can do in our effort to restrain evil here on the earth.

We expect God to be just – to promote justice on earth by rewarding good and punishing evil.  We naturally assume that God runs the world the same way we organize our societies.  But the Bible actually implies something else.

The books of Job and Jonah explore the question, “How does God rule his world?”

Job is asking God, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Jonah is asking the mirror image question, “Why do good things happen to bad people?”

The Book of Job

Then he suggests that God has made a special case of Job, by protecting him and his family and rewarding him with prosperity.  The satan tells God that if he were to withdraw that protection, Job would curse him to his face.

The accuser is posing the question: “Won’t rewarding the righteous corrupt their motives?”  If God rewards all good deeds and punishes all bad ones, won’t that change the rules of how the world works?  Wouldn’t that restrict free will?  Wouldn’t humans simply learn how to game the system?  God responds by giving the accuser permission to test Job.

When three of Job’s friends hear about his misfortunes, they come to console him.  They sit on the ground with Job for seven days and nights without saying a word because they could see that his suffering was too great for words.  When Job finally spoke, he cursed the day of his birth.

Like everyone else, Job’s friends believed that when bad things happened, it was because of some secret sin.  So they respond that Job must have done something wrong; after all, God can be trusted to do right.  As Bildad says in chapter 8, “Does God pervert justice?  Does the Almighty pervert what is right?”

But Job insists on his innocence.  He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, so why was God punishing him?  Again and again his friends tell Job that since God is just, Job must have done something wrong – just admit it and maybe God would forgive him and restore his life.  This back and forth continues for most of the rest of the book.  Job’s friends share the conventional assumption that God maintains justice here on earth, so whatever happens must be just in God’s eyes.

Then God shows up to respond.  God never says anything about what has happened to Job, or why.  First, he asks Job a series of questions:

Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind: 

“Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?  Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. 

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me, if you know so much.  Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? 

What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Job 38:1-7 NLT

Job realizes he doesn’t know the whole story, and can’t know the whole story.  He admits that he questioned God’s rulership of the world without knowledge or understanding, and that the world God created is far more complex than we can possibly comprehend.  Then God continued:

“Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

“Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?  Are you as strong as God?  Can you thunder with a voice like his?

Job 40:6-8 NLT

That’s what this is really about: “Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?”  God is ruling the world with justice; it just doesn’t look like human justice, so it isn’t what we expected.

So God invites Job to sit on his throne and try to run the universe for a day.  Try to implement strict retribution in practice and see how it goes.

All right, put on your glory and splendor, your honor and majesty.  Give vent to your anger.  Let it overflow against the proud.  Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand.  Bury them in the dust.  Imprison them in the world of the dead.

Job 40:10-13 NLT

How would Job run the world? The Bible Project has two good articles available online about the book of Job, and a lot of the information coming next is taken from there.

https://bibleproject.com/articles/book-job-whats-going

https://bibleproject.com/articles/gods-gives-job-tour-wise-world

From the Bible Project:

“Job will find the task impossible.  It would require a second-by-second micromanagement approach that would essentially result in no more human beings on the planet.  Job doesn’t know what he’s asking for when he demands that God uses the strict principle of retribution to reward every good deed and punish every bad one.  In theory it sounds right, but in execution, it would create a universe where no human would ever have a chance for trial and error or, more importantly, for growth and change.”

God’s Response to Job’s Questions About Suffering, By Tim Mackie

A Jewish scholar named Matisyahu Tsevat has proposed that the book of Job is exploring three claims about God and Job, but only two can be true at the same time.

1. God is Just and Good:
(God’s character compels him to always act justly for the good of others.)

2. The retribution principle:
(God has ordered the universe so that good deeds are rewarded, and evil deeds are punished.)

3. Job’s innocence:
(Job has done nothing to deserve his suffering.)

We all want to believe that God is just and good.  We also want to believe that the universe runs according to the retribution principle.  But we’re told in the first verse that Job is an upright and righteous man.  Therefore, one or both of the first two assumptions must be false.

The end of the book makes the point that what Job’s friends said wasn’t true.  God doesn’t run the world according to the retribution principle we all assume he does.  At the end of chapter 19, Job told his friends:

“How dare you go on persecuting me, saying, ‘It’s his own fault’?  You should fear punishment yourselves, for your attitude deserves punishment.  Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”

Job 19:28-29 NLT

At the end of the book, God addresses Job’s friends and their claims about him:

After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.  So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves.  My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf.  I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.”  So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the LORD commanded them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

Job 42:7-9 NLT

We’re never told how God actually does rule the universe, but we’re left knowing that it isn’t according to any simple formulas. God takes many more things into account than we can ever know or understand, given our limited experience and short lifetimes.

There are several places in the Bible where Jesus himself tells us that our conventional ideas about justice don’t always line up with God’s.  Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares illustrates the situation in the world today.

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.  When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?  Where then did the weeds come from?”

“An enemy did this,” he replied.  The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?”

“No”, he answered, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest.  At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”

Matthew 13:24-30

The landowner sowed good seed in his field, but weeds popped up among the wheat.  His servants asked, “Didn’t you sow good seed?  Why then does it have weeds?”  This is the same question people are asking today – “If you’re a good God, why is there so much evil in the world?”  Jesus’ answer still applies: “An enemy has done this.” 

But his solution isn’t to take immediate action and uproot all the weeds.  God’s ultimate justice will have to wait for the end of this age.

God takes many more things into account as he sustains the universe than just any person’s level of sinfulness or righteousness at that moment in time.  As Jesus said in Matthew 5, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  

The Book of Jonah

“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh.  Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

So Jonah got up, went to the port of Joppa, and booked passage to Tarshish.  Ninevah was about 600 miles from Israel, to the northeast.  Tarshish was the farthest point away from Israel, due west, the far edge of Jonah’s known world.  Jonah was going as far as he possibly could in the opposite direction from Ninevah.  We assume it was because the Assyrians were the most violent, dangerous people in Jonah’s world, but we’ll find out later he had a different reason.

But Jonah’s heart wasn’t really in it.  The Bible says it would take three days to walk across the city, but Jonah preached for only one day and his message consisted of only five (Hebrew) words.  It wasn’t Jonah’s best work.

Although Jonah’s message and delivery were lacking, God used it to awaken the Ninevites.  When their king heard about Jonah’s warning, he stepped down from his throne, dressed himself in burlap and sat in a heap of ashes.  Then he decreed fasting and prayer for all the people, hoping that God would change his mind.

When God saw their change of heart, he did change his mind:

When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 3:10 NLT

And now we learn the real reason Jonah ran away.  Jonah wanted vengeance against the Assyrians, and he was afraid God would forgive them.  In Jonah’s mind, the Assyrians deserved destruction, not forgiveness.

This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.  So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD?  That is why I ran away to Tarshish!  I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  You are eager to turn back from destroying people.  Just kill me now, LORD!  I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

The LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

Jonah 4:1-4 NLT

The book ends with God asking Jonah:

But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals.  Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

Jonah 4:11 NLT

Jonah wanted God to punish the Assyrians, and he was angry when God spared them.  His sense of justice couldn’t accept God’s mercy toward evil people.  Jonah didn’t think they deserved a chance to break out of their spiritual darkness.

I think the message is that God knows that we’re enslaved by sin, but he treats us all as if we’re redeemable.  He gives sunlight and rain to the just and unjust alike.  He gives sight to the good and the bad.  And he reserves the right of vengeance to himself only, not to us.

But I say, love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.  For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

Matthew 5:44-45 NLT

The poor and the oppressor have this in common – the LORD gives sight to the eyes of both.

Proverbs 29:13 NLT

Never pay back evil with more evil.  Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.  Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.  Dear friends, never take revenge.  Leave that to the righteous anger of God.  For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD.  Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.  If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”  Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Romans 12:17-21 NLT

Over and over, the Bible describes God as “slow to anger and filled with unfailing love.”

The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh!  The LORD!  The God of compassion and mercy!  I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

Exodus 34:6 NLT

But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:15 NLT

And God is patient, not wanting any to perish.

The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

2 Peter 3:9 NLT

Studying God’s purposes for creation, we realize that God’s will for mankind is reconciliation and adoption as his sons and daughters.  And since he is always working toward that end, it represents the primary facet of how God administers justice.

God uses Hardships for our Benefit

I don’t mean for this last topic to make light of the pain and suffering many people experience.  Pain and suffering can be caused by circumstances far worse than anything we could categorize as hardship, trials, or problems.  I’ll address this at the end, in the section titled “God will redeem our pain.”

I think it’s important to confront the reality that God doesn’t often rescue us from hardship.  He is much more likely to use it for our benefit.  The Bible tells us that God can use suffering to produce wisdom and character in our lives.  That doesn’t mean he caused it.  The authors of the New Testament all agreed that God uses suffering to develop godliness and perseverance in us.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

Romans 5:3-4 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

James 1:2-4 NLT

It wasn’t theoretical for the apostles; we know they experienced it, too.  Paul tells us he faced persecution, imprisonment, shipwrecks, and many beatings.  We don’t know all the details for the others, but John was a prisoner on Patmos, and nearly all the apostles were eventually martyred.

I think we can trust God to allow whatever will make us more fit for eternity.  Consider: if evil didn’t exist, how would God ever prepare people with free will to spend eternity with him?

God can use our Hardships to Benefit Others

The apostle Paul had to endure more than his share of hardships in order to spread the good news to the Greek speaking world.  I think those troubles made his message more believable.  Everyone could see Paul wasn’t in it for any personal benefit. 

But the Bible tells us something even deeper.  God’s power to accomplish his will through us is made perfect in our weakness:

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  ”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

God will Redeem our Pain

Many people have faced unspeakable suffering, beyond what we could call a trial.  So I offer these thoughts:

Remember that God will wipe away every tear.

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people!  He will live with them, and they will be his people.  God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  All these things are gone forever.”

Revelation 21:3-4 NLT

Try to hold onto an eternal perspective.  This life is temporary, but heaven is eternal.

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT