God wills it so...
we live in a fallen world, where God has to allow certain things to occur, and "intervening" breaks that temporary spirirtual condition, so sometimes God allows incidents to occur so we can observe "the bigger picture"...
God is not "obligated" to protect anything beyond what His stretched out over time will is. God makes his decisions based solely with an eternal value attached to it, and not just what suits our immediate "personal comfort". we seem to only place value on the immediate, and Gods decision making is never just about the immediate.
God unfortunately has to allow things to occur that our outside of his will, because His creation thinks they can act outside His standards, and still "demand" His protective blessing. that is why we observe children dying by the thousands in countries where the majority of that nation reject the one true God, opting instead to follow after false Gods who cannot help them. so God says....."ok, let's see what your 'god' can do for you". he HAS TO. not that He "wants to".
it breaks His heart
God is a "gentleman", and at some point, He will remove his protective nature from us.... if we insist on making choices that exclude Him. if He does not do that, then we have no incentive plan, and God is gracious enough that He created boundaries so that we can have and maintain a healthy relationship.
the above answers are washing machine answers. meaning they are a biblical over time perspective of Gods character, and how He arrives at a decision. a small slice of a view, but an accurate one. for believers, the above minute attempts will make sense. for unbelievers, they cannot quite grasp the concept of immediacy over eternal desicion making, and so it will still appear to be "unfair"......when it's not.
so, let's make it personal, instead of spitting out lock step idealogies.
this month i will have had an illness called chronic fatigue syndrome for 20 years, and it has greatly reduced my capabilities these last 20 years.
but in a fantastic way....
i have a wide circle of friends, for whom when you observe their choices over a long period of time, they throw maybe a half hearted attempt at being obedient to God at best, and yet they have zero health dilemmas, they flourish financially, while i wade thru both while i work very hard at being obedient before God.
there is not one day were i feel slighted, cheated out of, shortchanged, or "God is not fair".... in comparison to how He "blesses" them, despite their lack of commitment.
for face value, i could. most everyone i know is better off than i am in those arena's of life.
i don't, and the reason i don't..... is because i throw Gods blanket of perspective (when it's weighed out over time) over my parameters, and then i conclude by choice that God is not only good, but He has a better plan for my life with the inclusion of those circumstances, than He ever could if He had "intervened"...... and took them away.
because i embrace that perspective, i have far more strength than i would have had otherwise, far more perspective, far more peace, far more resolve, far more compassion, far more insight, on and on. the list of "pluses" about my life far exceeds the perceived negative.
that's how you arrive at the intersection of what's "fair", and "not fair" when it comes to how God deals out the cards.
does He allow someone to win a lottery for a greater purpose over time that transcends just the "more money" issue? YES
we seem to think when and if God allowed someone to win, it was just based around money, and it's NOT. there could be 1,000 different peripheral reasons beyond just the money part of that equation. it's never about that immediate moment, and more about what that initial moment will flesh out over time.
so what if God in His infinite wisdom picks the guy across the street to win, and bypasses me. i know why that's fair.
i know "thats fair" ....both when i lose, if i were to win, if my friends remain far beyond me in the circumstances sweepstakes, or if i were to overtake them.
we only arrive at those intersections of ponderance while appLying the wrong math
i can't point to every individual drawing and say for certainity "God picked that dude".
but i do know for certain, there are some people He has hand picked for His purpose and will, for whom it will happen to
truthfully, what's more of an ostentatious statement, given the perceived "inequities" going on in history, is the statement that God couldn't possibly pick someone specifically TO win.
like if there is a God, that's somehow intellectually impossible. truthfully, that's intellectual suicide
God (if He exists) can do anything He wants, anytime He wants, to anyone He wants.....for His sustained purpose
like i said before way back in this thread...
you can cry, scratch, negotiate, do fantasic deeds, tithe your retirement away, pray day and night bawling your eyes out begging God to change your parameters, but if it isn't within the confines of His decision making over time concerning your life....it CANNOT EVER happen, no matter how many tickets you buy, or how much effort you throw at it
conversely, if it is within His plan for your life, it will, but positionally speaking, it won't ever make you "better than"
therefore, there isn't as much "inequity" in life, as much as there is a tragic occurances of Gods creation acting outside his standards, and creating possible inequities themselves either by circumstances or perspective.
God is more than fair ------> He is righteous and just
but, i have to conclude with.....He does favor those.....who favor Him
i choose to be on the side of favor, and that grants me the luxury of world perspective
because of that ongoing choice.....i am so far removed from being "shortchanged" as to what defines me
VISION