We often feel that God is not fair because our concepts of justice are different with the concept of God’s justice. But when we align our thinking with the concept of God’s justice and understanding God’s justice, then we would no longer feel unfairness and have inner conflicts in our lives because we suspect that God is unfair.

There are two principles of justice: Justice is not the same as equalization and justice is God’s prerogative rights that relates to His sovereignty (See Understanding God’s Justice 1)
If justice is God’s prerogative rights and all things are in His sovereignty, does it means we do not need to do anything and can not do anything about it? Not really, when He exercised His prerogative rights, He still has corridors in His mind. Similarly, the president has the prerogative rights to choose his ministers, but he has certain criteria to give that ministerial posts to someone.
When God wants to use His sovereignty to give His justice to a person (or a nation), there are criteria which he uses to give His justice. To whom the Lord will give His justice?
1. To the people who suffer injustice.
Injustice: The suffering that a person experiences not because his fault and beyond his power to refuse. If suffering is caused by our own fault, then that is not injustice. It means, God will give His justice to those who are weak and helpless who are unable to refuse that suffering and not because their own fault. For example: people who are poor because of descent (Ps. 140:13), people who are oppressed and powerless to resist evil acts (Ps 103:6), the poor, orphans, and needy (Psalm 82:1-5). These people do not know anything but suffer because of the faults of others.
2. To the people who close to Him (Ps. 91:14).
God will protect and delivered people who close to Him. Proximity will affect our actions. We definitely will be more sorry for the people close to us than people who are not close to us. Similarly, people who are close to God will be treated differently than people who are not close to Him. In general, people may also experience God’s justice, but they have to wait a long time. But special people, who are close to Him and know Him do not have to wait long to receive God’s justice. The more we cling to Him, the more we will experience His justice.
3. To the people who trust Him completely (Ps. 26:1).
David prayed that God would bring justice to him because he had trusted God with no hesitation. He knew the hearts of God, and he knew that if he trusted Him completely, then He would quickly give His justice. We can only trust people that we know. The more we know someone, the more we can trust him completely. Thus, the more we know God, the more we will trust Him. That is why we must continue to build the our relationship with God so that we will know Him and trust Him more and more.
4. To the person who sincere (Ps. 26:1).
David believes that to people who live in sincerity, God will give His justice. We can not trust God fully if we do not know Him. We can not live in sincerity if we do not trust Him fully. David still forgave and didn’t do evil to Saul even though Saul wanted to kill him (I Sam. 24:10-16). David can live with sincerity because he trusted God fully. He believed that God would raise him as a king in His way and time. As we continue to live in sincerity, God will show His justice to us. All those lost years will be redeemed by God and replaced with the years of happiness.
5. To the person of integrity.
One of the most prominent Bible character that has integrity is Joseph. Joseph suffered not because of his own fault but because of his brothers. He was sold into slavery in Egypt. He was in the midst of slavery at a young age and suffered, but he had integrity. That’s why God gave His justice to him. God made all that he did to prosper in his hand and eventually promoted him to become the ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh. It’s all happened because God showed His justice. (Genesis 39-41). We must continue to maintain our integrity so that God will show His justice to us and promote us. Things that are seem impossible will be possible when God shows His justice to us.
By knowing to whom God will give His justice, understanding God’s justice will be easier so that we can become people who experience His justice.
Read also: Understanding God’s Justice 1.