What to do when life doesn't play fair

If you’ve been a believer for six months or longer, you’ve more than likely experienced it. A prayer failure; a faith project that did not turn out the way you imagined.

Sometimes it seems that we can do all the right things and get the wrong results. Even worse, sometimes it seems that we’ve done nothing wrong but we’ve been wronged. For example, consider someone who was abused as a baby or a child. What wrong can a baby or child do that necessitates abuse? Nothing. And yet, there are many that have suffered wrong at the hands of those that should know better.

It seems at times, life just doesn’t play fair. Whether it’s failing to get the new job or promotion you were sure was yours, the relationship that shattered, a business venture that turned pear shaped, the loss of a loved one, or even a traumatic event. From ongoing health issues to workplace bullying, most have suffered times in their life where something went terribly wrong. Life didn’t play fair.

What do you do when that happens? What do you do when life isn’t playing fair? Your answer to these questions will determine whether you recover or remain defeated.

In May 2017, my beautiful bride of 28 years went to Heaven. Joy had been diagnosed 6 months earlier with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer and was told that there was nothing the doctors could do. We knew God was more than able to turn a terrible situation into a terrific situation and so we began to apply the principles of faith. We saw many notable things turn around and expected a complete recovery. Her departure was totally unexpected and devastating in many ways.
What I’m going to share with you are some principles that the Lord revealed to me since that time. They have not only brought comfort to a distressed soul but also empowered me to overcome when life didn’t play fair. These principles are equally applicable for anyone that has experienced a traumatic event.

What do you do when life doesn’t play fair? The first thing you do is keep ‘Why me?’ out of your vocabulary. You are not the only one that has experienced tragedy, setback or injustice. The universe did not align itself against you. Sometimes life just doesn’t play fair and asking the question ‘Why me?’ will lead you into a dark slippery pit called self-pity. Self-pity can have a strong pull – particularly if you’ve experienced a terrible wrong but you must resist it!

I was not the first person to lose their spouse and I will not be the last. It was not God’s fault that Joy died; He was trying to push the healing through. But there was something that we missed; something important that we were overlooking. We couldn’t see it because of our imperfection. You see, as believers, we are all growing and developing which means we don’t do things perfectly. Not a single believer has a 100% success record in prayer. Why? Because we haven’t matured in every area; there are still areas in our lives that we need to grow in or areas that we need to soften our hearts toward God.

Sometimes you can be doing everything you know to do and you fail to receive. This is not God withholding from us; it’s just our inability at times to perceive what He’s trying to show us. We don’t need to condemn ourselves in this. The more we grow, the better we’ll get. But as we grow we will experience failure in prayer from time to time and this is not God’s will. What do you do when this happens? The first thing is: keep ‘Why me?’ out of your vocabulary.

There is much more to say on this topic and the two audio files below go into far greater detail. They are free of charge and they will empower you to comeback from every setback.

What to do when life doesn't play fair - Part 1

What to do when life doesn't play fair - Part 2

Recorded at Transformers Christian Church