Tyler Hall

Do you believe that God is fair? The concept of fairness gets thrown around a lot when people wrestle with spiritual doubts and reason through their faith in the God of the Bible. It’s easy for one to say that the All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Loving God we read of in Scripture is fair and just and true. But whether it’s in news headlines, hypothetical scenarios, or first-hand experience, temptation to doubt God’s goodness and justice will always rear its head to strike.

This may well have been Abraham’s mindset as the Lord told him of the coming judgment of Sodom (Gen. 18:16-21). In response, the patriarch appealed to God to consider the minority in the city who may be righteous but would suffer destruction with the wicked, saying, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just” (vv. 23-25)? What follows is a display of divine patience. Abraham asked if God would spare the city for the sake of 50 righteous people…. then 45… and so on, until God said He would spare the city if there were only 10 righteous individuals therein. And yet, after Lot, his wife, and his two daughters are brought out of Sodom, God obliterates that city (see chapter 19).

This conversation shows how Abraham, like all of us, struggle with a truly objective sense of righteousness and justice. We conjure up “what ifs” in our head and let our personal biases warp our sense of justice to suit our culture and ourselves. But God Almighty isn’t hindered by prejudice or lack of understanding. Indeed, Peter assures Christians who might have questioned God’s justice, “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment…” (2 Peter 2:9). The Judge of all the earth does not make mistakes, and He will be perfect in rewarding and punishing souls in the last day. But just as true is this: the perfect Judge is also patient and merciful. As God delivered Lot and his house from the destruction of His own wrath, God promises to deliver us from His wrath through our faith in Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:10).