Life isn’t fair. Maybe you always try to live by the rules. You know what I mean: You go out of your way to help other people. You avoid doing things that might hurt others, and you always try to do the right thing, even when it’s hard.

What is baffling, though, (and at times even maddening) is when rude, nasty people seem to have better lives than we do. They may even enjoy fame and fortune, while our good deeds go unnoticed. If you think that isn’t fair, you are right!

This is not a new problem. Three thousand years ago the writer of Psalm 73 also struggled to understand why God would allow the wicked to enjoy life while the righteous were left to struggle.

“For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat

[i.e. healthy]. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; the garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; they speak from on high [with arrogance]” (Psalm 73:3–8).

The writer goes on to complain that the wicked are “… always at ease, they have increased in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence” (Psalm 73:12–13). In other words, why go to all the trouble to do the right thing? Maybe the old saying “crime doesn’t pay” isn’t true?

Why does God allow things to be so unfair, like when He gives good things to bad people? Let me share just two thoughts that will help us understand what God is doing.

When God gives good things to bad people, He is patiently showing them their need to be right with Him. “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). No matter how hateful people act, we should never be so cold-hearted as to want them to endure God’s eternal punishment for their sin. God wants them to turn to Him and trust His offer of forgiveness.

“A nineteenth-century agnostic and antagonist of Christianity, Robert Ingersoll, is reported to have shaken his fist toward the heavens and demanded, ‘If there is a God, I defy You to strike me dead.’ Why did God allow him to continue to breathe? Because of His common grace.” [Charles R. Swindoll and Roy B. Zuck, Understanding Christian Theology, 847 (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003)] God says, “… ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die…?’” (Ezekiel 33:11).

God is patiently kind, but we must also remember that His patience has its limits. Many things are not fair now, but one day He will make everything fair. “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5). “But the wicked will perish; and the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures, they vanish—like smoke they vanish away” (Psalm 37:20).

As we look around at others, before we get too judgmental, let’s take a good look at ourselves. We may be the “good” neighbor on our block, but that doesn’t free us from God’s holy requirements. God’s standard is perfection. He commands us to holy just as He is (see I Peter 1:16). None of us are that good.

We must be careful lest we think that God’s wrath is only for the rude and spiteful.  “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men …” (Romans 1:18). This applies to all of us because “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good,[compared to God] there is not even one” (Romans 3:10–12).

Don’t miss this! No matter how good we are compared to those who live around us, none of us are good enough to please an eternally pure and righteous God.

That is why Jesus suffered and died. His agony on the Cross satisfied God’s requirement that all sin be punished. “As a result of the anguish of [Jesus’] soul, He [God the Father] will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11).

Jesus was punished so that we don’t have to be, “so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15–16).

The bottom line is that we ALL need God to be good to us. My prayer is that you are experiencing God’s goodness because you have put your complete faith in the work that Jesus has done for you.

When you have time, read Psalm 73. You will be encouraged by the conclusions that the psalmist, who had been envious of the wicked, eventually reaches. Don’t take my word for it, though. Read it for yourself. Be sure to contact me if you don’t have a Bible, and I will make sure you get one. Reading God’s Word will change your life.