Books

When I began the book, I didn’t realize the author is blind. As I read and understood, my eyes were opened to how much her blindness has allowed Jennifer to see clearly.

With a shift in emphasis, book’s title, God is Just Not Fair, gives away the answer to the problem it poses. God is JUST—Not Fair, that is, His actions are based on justice as God defines it and have nothing to do with what we deem as fair. “Perhaps the real question you and I should ask,” Jennifer Rothschild writes, “is not ‘Is the master fair?’ but ‘Is the master just?’ In other words, Did the master do as he said he would?”

Total paradigm shift. We tend view God as a slightly better version of us. Instead, He is completely wise, sovereign, and just. If He were fair, we’d all be condemned—because we all fall short of His holiness.

Jennifer wrestles with the dilemma of God’s unfairness, summed up well in her struggle with others who had been healed when she—who had prayed just as hard—remained blind.

Here are the quotes from the book I enjoyed most:

“Seeing to know answers is far less important than seeking to know God.” (Location 247)

“We will experience greater peace when we love and trust a God we may not understand rather than when we constantly try to conform him into an image we have created in our imagination.” (location 1158)

“When the train goes through the tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.” —Corrie Ten Boom (location 2339)

“The dark truth about selfish people: they suffer harder. . . . Being too self-focused makes every sorrow deeper, every problem bigger, and every slight more personal.” (location 3253)

God is Just Not Fair does a great job of taking the “Problem of Evil” and putting it in a real-world context that offers hope, comfort, and encouragement.

Amazingly, Jennifer Rothschild sees more clearly than many people.