Have you ever played a sport and never missed a practice?

Have you ever applied for a job you were overly qualified for?

Have you ever applied for a scholarship and had a great GPA?

And has anyone who skipped practice everyday gotten to play in a game over you?

And has anyone less qualified gotten the job over you?

And has anyone with a worse GPA and does not put forth an effort gotten more scholarships than you?

Throughout my life, I have run into all of these situations. These are only three out of many situations where life seems to not be fair. Most people will face these types of problems and human nature will cause most to turn to immediate anger and vengeance. When faced with the question of “is it fair?” or “why not me?” I also often turn to immediate frustration and vengeance. Most recently, I was denied a job where I was overly qualified but someone I know who was underqualified and just wanted the job because I did, got the job instead of me. Immediately I was angry, I was mad at God for giving someone else my dream job and I was mad at the person who got the job over me. Of course, my human nature caused me to think, “it isn’t fair”.

After praying and studying the Bible, I came across 1 Corinthians 4:5 which says “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At the time each will receive their praise from God”. This verse shows that God knows the wrong motives of people and why sometimes He allows things to happen when we think something else is better. In my frustration at this situation, I was reminded that God sees and knows the truth of people’s hearts, He sees when people do things purely to frustrate me. Even though I was not given the job, God saw my heart and my desire to love people and provided me with a better job opportunity. This job gave me a new mission field that is closer to my heart and that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

For those of you struggling with the question of “why them and not me?” God sees and knows your heart and theirs. When you trust God in these situations and not your own spiteful desires, He will take care of you and it will be better than you could have ever anticipated. Sometimes God uses the most frustrating situations to show His constant presence and love for us in our lives.