“It’s not fair!”

Every parent (God the Father especially) is familiar with that passionate little refrain.

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Pray for your fellow intercessor. 

The desire for “fairness” springs up from every human heart. The expression of that desire is uttered by any child who sees his sister or brother “get away” with misbehavior, while sitting in a time-out himself. And the refrain is like a song heard on playgrounds everywhere. But this is not exclusive among the very young. Older people hurl this phrase at the Lord in impotent fury when enduring unjust treatment or, as intercessors know well, when observing the unjust suffering of others.

Behind the utterance is what those in the professional helping careers might call an “ontological given.” In other words, it’s  a need that has been built, if you will, into human nature by our Creator. Among these “givens” or needs that are evident from the beginning: acceptance, belonging, competence, equity, identity, security, significance, transcendence, and sexuality.

Equity is an unviolated sense of “rightness.” It encompasses a sense that the components of life are in right relationship with each other and that one is being treated fairly. Why is this such a strong need? Psychologists debate this, all ways to Sunday. But I start at Sunday — my hypothesis rests on the justice nature of the Lord God. As those made in His image (see Genesis 1:26–27), we carry an imprint of this divine justice. I believe this is why our desire and urge for justice is so great, and why the biblical understanding of creation set right again excludes the sin from which injustice grows (see Revelation 22:14–15).

Sin attacked our human ancestors’ sense of equity immediately.

Genesis records the single restriction the Lord made upon Adam and Eve: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:15–17).

It was enough, the Lord asserted, for Adam and Eve to know good; they had no need to know, experience, or encounter evil. For this reason — for their good — He prohibited them from ingesting the knowledge of evil. In so doing, the Lord also provided a way for the humans — utterly dependent upon God and bringing nothing of value to Him, save their own allegiance — to express love back to God. For the Lord’s love language is obedience (see John 14:14-16).

But evil saw an opening to enflame the embedded equity need. Genesis records the temptation: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1).

Tragically, the woman engaged in conversation about the Lord’s restriction: But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4–5).

The reptilian argument prevailed, leading the woman to violate the Lord’s command and open herself and her husband up to the knowledge of evil.

From that day, evil has stalked the earth.

Ironically, while Eve was persuaded the Lord was unfairly withholding from her luscious fruit and desirable knowledge, her sin opened the door to floods of injustice upon the earth.

Breaking fellowship with the Lord, Adam and Eve lost their perfect home and their innocence. That loss attacked them at the core — at their ontological givens or needs. Those needs were perverted, even destroyed, and would now have to await the Lord’s redemptive work through His Son Jesus Christ for full restoration.

What actually happened to drive Eve to take that deadly bite?

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths (Genesis 3:6–7).

Eve’s error seems clear: She saw that the tree was good-looking, with (probably) good-tasting fruit, and she judged that eating its fruit would make her wise.

Eve elevated her vision over the Lord’s, and she obeyed her own judgment.

Ever after, human judgment would be fettered by sin and distortion. All of Eve’s descendants — including us — reckon with human judgment that is vulnerable to sin.

Cain suffered from this malady. Sin crouched at his door when he begrudged the Lord’s seeming favor upon his brother Abel. I can just hear him cry, “It’s not fair!” Sin leapt fully upon Cain when his flawed judgment drove him to murder.

The holy Lord had to punish Cain, but His judgment is mixed with mercy, as He announced divine justice upon any who might attempt to harm him: “… If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him (Genesis 4:15).

Throughout the Bible, the Lord reserves vengeance for Himself. Speaking of those enemy nations sent to chasten His disobedient First Covenant people, the Lord said: ” ‘Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly’ ” (Deuteronomy 32:35).

Vengeance, punishment for wrongdoing, is the Lord’s to govern. But He has delegated responsibility for maintaining order on earth to mankind. The account of Noah records the first instance of the death penalty: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6).

Yet the Lord demands balance in judgment, calling for proportionate punishment: “But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:23–25).

Lamech’s vicious vengeance as described in Genesis is an evil response to injury: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:23–24).

I don’t consider myself a Lamech, but sometimes my emotions — and even my prayers — testify otherwise.

Hatred, revenge, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, self-pity, victimization, selfishness, rebellion, ungodly protests — I have experienced all these unhealthy and sinful responses when faced with injustice.

I’m probably not alone in my “it’s not fair!” cry to the Lord when I see the deep-state DOJ and FBI now liberated by like-minded leadership to persecute those whose political and religious views differ from theirs. This enrages me, and I’m tempted toward prayers that are Lamech-like in their fury.

But the Lord stays my tongue. Am I to call down fire from heaven? Or to ask the Judge of all the earth to do the just thing?

There is only one way out for me in this swamp of bitterness: The Cross thrown into the waters of Marah (Ex. 15:22-27). 

I seize this escape: I ask the Lord to forgive me for harboring hate, bitterness, and revenge. I forgive those whose trespass led me into sin, and I ask the Lord to release the debt against them. I ask the Lord to care for those being harmed: liberating them from the evil done to them, restoring what the locusts have devoured, and establishing justice in the situation. I remind myself that the Lord is just and merciful, and that only He has the wisdom to hold in perfect balance all these divine attributes.

And I remind myself that — like Eve — my vision is dim and my judgment flawed.

A beautiful psalm restores peace to my soul. As Asaph wrote:

“My feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. …

They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. …

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. …

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

(Psalm 73)

Please post a prayer in the comments about any one of the many wicked things we see in the news, using the pattern described here.

New York City–based Joyce Swingle is an intercessor and a contributing writer for IFA. With her husband, Rich, also a contributing writer for IFA, Joyce shares the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world through theater, speaking, writing, and film. Prior to going into full-time ministry, Joyce worked for about 20 major magazines and now works in pastoral ministry and Christian counseling. Read more about Joyce’s work at www.Richdrama.com. Photo credit: PeopleImages.