Does God care when I'm going through hard times?
"Life's not fair."
It's probably one of the first lessons we learn as kids. Someone gets a bigger piece of cake, your sibling gets to stay up later, or the kid who didn't study gets a better grade. And a parent or teacher says those three words: "Life's not fair."
But as we get older, the unfairness gets a lot more serious than cake sizes. People we love get sick. Hard-working people lose their jobs. Families fall apart. And we find ourselves asking much deeper questions: If God is good, why is this happening? Where is He when I'm hurting? Does He even care?
These aren't new questions. In fact, there's an entire book in the Bible dedicated to wrestling with them—the book of Job. And what we discover in Job's story might surprise you, challenge you, and ultimately help you navigate the hardest seasons of life.
The story everyone can relate to
Job was a good man. The Bible actually calls him righteous. He loved God, he cared for his family, and he lived with integrity. But then everything fell apart. He lost his children, his wealth, his health—everything except his life and his wife (who told him to curse God and die, so that's complicated).
Job had friends who came to comfort him. At first, they did great—they just sat with him in silence for seven days. But then they started talking, offering their explanations for why this was happening. Most of them got it wrong. But one friend, a younger guy named Elihu, actually got some things right. And what he said to Job addresses three major mistakes we often make when we're suffering.
Mistake #1: Thinking "I'm innocent, so God must be unjust"
When one of our pastors and his wife moved to Florida to start a church, they poured everything into it. Six months in, just as things were gaining momentum, his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. The gut-punch question was immediate: "Where's the justice in that?"
Job felt the same way. He looked at his life and said, essentially, "I don't deserve this" (Job 9:15-24). And here's the thing—he wasn't wrong about being a good person but he was wrong about what that meant he deserved from God.
Sometimes suffering is a direct result of our choices. Make bad decisions, face bad consequences—that's just how life works. But not all suffering works that way. Much of what we go through isn't punishment at all.
God uses difficult times to shape us, to grow us, to prepare us for His purposes. The Bible actually says to "count it all joy" when we face trials (James 1:2-4). Not because the trial itself is fun—it's not—but because coming through it with your faith intact proves your faith is real. It makes you stronger. It produces endurance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-4).
One verse captures this beautifully: "He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity" (Job 36:15). If you've walked through a really hard season and come out the other side, you probably know what this means. There's a closeness with God that suffering can bring—a way He speaks to us in pain that we might never hear otherwise.
So when life gets hard, it's worth asking: "God, is there something I need to learn here? Is there sin I'm not seeing?" That's healthy self-examination. But if there isn't, don't assume God is being unfair. He might be working on something deeper in you.
Mistake #2: Believing "God ignores my cries—He must not care"
Job looked around and saw wicked people prospering. Their families were intact. Their businesses were thriving. Meanwhile, his own children were dead and he was covered in painful sores. He cried out, "Why do the wicked live and grow mighty in power?" (Job 21:7-13).
He felt like God wasn't listening. And if God was listening, He certainly wasn't doing anything about it.
Have you ever felt that way?
You pray and pray, and nothing changes.
You see people doing terrible things with no consequences.
You wonder, "Does God even care?"
Here's what we need to understand: God doesn't settle all His accounts on this side of eternity.
That's a hard pill to swallow, especially when our suffering is caused by other people's cruelty or injustice. We want justice now. We need it to happen in our lifetime. But God exists outside of time. He sees the whole picture—past, present, and future—all at once. And His justice will come, even if we don't see it before we die.
The Bible promises that God hears the humble but opposes the proud (James 4:6). Jesus said God has numbered the hairs on our heads—we're that valuable to Him (Matthew 10:30). When you're hurting, God sees. God cares. But His timeline is different from ours, and His purposes are bigger than we can understand in the moment.
Mistake #3: Demanding "God owes me an answer"
When you're suffering, it's really easy to get self-righteous. "I've served God. I've volunteered at church. I've been a good person. I deserve an explanation."
Job felt this way too. He said, "I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to argue my case with God" (Job 13:3).
But here's the reality: stepping into that courtroom with God is not a good idea. His justice is perfect and pure. He doesn't compare our sin to other people's sin—He compares it to Jesus Christ, who was perfect. None of us can stand next to Him.
The good news? If you're a follower of Jesus, you don't have to stand in that courtroom. Jesus stands there for you. He makes intercession for you. He took God's just anger against sin on the cross so you could receive mercy instead.
God doesn't have to explain Himself to us. That might sound harsh, but it's actually freeing. We don't carry the burden of understanding everything. We can trust that God is mighty, that He doesn't despise anyone, and that He gives the afflicted their rights—even if we don't see it all play out in our lifetime (Job 36:5-15).
The only person who truly suffered innocently
Here's something crucial to remember: Jesus is the only person who ever suffered completely innocently.
We might feel like we don't deserve our suffering, but the truth is we all deserve far worse than what we experience. Every breath we take is better than we deserve. But Jesus? He was perfect. He never sinned. And yet He suffered the most brutal death imaginable.
On the cross, we see God's justice and mercy perfectly balanced. God's justice, because Jesus took the punishment our sin deserved. God's mercy, because He offers us salvation through that sacrifice.
When we suffer, we can look to Jesus and remember: God understands suffering. He's not distant or uncaring. He entered into our pain. And He promises to be with us through ours.
Preparing for hard times before they come
It's really easy to believe bad theology about God when we're in the middle of suffering. Our emotions are raw. Our perspective is limited. We're in survival mode. That's why it's so important to fill your mind with truth before hard times come. Don't wait for a crisis to open your Bible. Don't wait until you're desperate to learn who God really is.
If you've caught yourself believing any of these wrong ideas about God—that He's being unfair, that He doesn't care, or that He owes you an explanation—it's okay. These are common human struggles. But take time to repent, to change your thinking, and to align your beliefs with what God actually says about Himself in Scripture.
Study passages like Job 36:15. Memorize the truth that God delivers the afflicted through their affliction. Pray for discernment and wisdom now, while things are calm, so you'll have that foundation when the storms come.
Life isn't fair—but God is good. Even when we can't see it. Even when we can't feel it. Even when our circumstances scream otherwise. His justice will prevail, His mercy is real, and His purposes are always for His glory and our good.
And that's a truth worth holding onto, no matter what you're facing today.
