It is disconcerting for a driver when he sees a patrol car's flashing lights in his rearview mirror, specially when he realizes that those lights are directing him to pull over. His eyes immediately check the speedometer. Can he talk his way out of a ticket?
A fellow was speeding along the highway, feeling quite secure since the rest of the traffic was traveling at the same pace. Passing a speed trap, he was tagged by a radar detector and subsequently pulled over. After the patrolman handed him a ticket, the driver said, "Officer, I may have been speeding, but this just doesn't seem fair. There were lots of cars around me traveling just as fast. Why did I get the ticket?" "Have you ever gone fishing?" the patrolman asked. "Uhhhh, yeah," the driver replied, a bit puzzled. Grinning, the officer continued... "Did you try to catch all the fish?"
It is disconcerting for a driver when he sees a patrol car's flashing lights in his rearview mirror. God does not issue speeding tickets, although you might prefer that He did, especially when you are in line to receive your "Just Desserts."
We assume that God is eminently fair, that unlike man He is not capricious in His dealings with us, and there is considerable Biblical testimony for such a view:
All his ways are just....Upright and just is he. (Deut 32:4)
The leaders of Israel and the king...said, "The LORD is just." (2 Chr 12:6)
The works of his hands are faithful and just.... (Ps 111:7a)
God is just. (2 Thess 1:6)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.... (1 John 1:9)
Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. (Rev 15:3c)
The down side of God's fairness is that He demands accountability from His creatures, those who are volitional beings and should know right from wrong. The Apostle Paul has repeatedly said that people who commit sin (i.e., everyone), who violate the standards of behavior God established, are accountable before Him:
Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.... There is no one righteous, not even one.... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:9-10, 23)
We will all stand before God's judgment seat.... Each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Rom 14: lOc, 12).
We also read that God metes out punishment according to a preordained and calculated metric, and that it is wrong when such equity is absent:
That servant who knows his master's will and...does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. (Luke 12:47-48)
There is something...meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This...I say, is meaningless. (Ecci 8:14)
Nevertheless, God will treat some people more harshly than others for their disobedience:
If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.... If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over.... If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over.... If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. (Lev 26:18, 21,23-24, 27-28).
While He is indeed not capricious, neither is He rigidly fixated on a strict tit-for-tat policy. He does not throw down lightening bolts from heaven in answer to each transgression. There is a leniency in His response to man despite his sin.
