How God Plays Favorites

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
2 Timothy 2:3-4

One of the most moving poems you’ll ever read is “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Tennyson. It memorializes the bravery of six hundred English soldiers who, because of poorly communicated orders, went up against a horde of over two thousand Russians with no hope of victory at the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War in 1854.

It’s hard to fathom what it would be like for soldiers in these circumstances, outnumbered as they were. What thoughts were going through their minds as they charged? The fact that they had the courage and the sense of duty to plunge in makes it seem even more tragic and unfair. They must have been good men. This was not the fate they deserved.

I’ve told the story before about the young mother I overheard complaining about the unfairness of life, lamenting that “God plays favorites.” In that article (here), I criticized her for not appreciating her blessings. But you and I both know there ARE people out there who could make such a complaint with more credibility. There are certainly some people who seem to suffer much more than others, who have to endure a fate they don’t deserve.

But the idea of God playing favorites by blessing them more than others is still misguided. Let’s consider whether God had “favorites” in the Bible.

You could argue that Job was one of God’s favorites. God had blessed Job tremendously. Satan described it as “a hedge around him,” (Job 1:10). And that was after God had bragged on Job. If God has favorites, surely Job was one of them.

In another article (here), I wrote about how Daniel was called “greatly beloved” by God three times. Jesus was God’s beloved Son, but I can’t find anyone else in the Bible who was called “greatly beloved.” If God has favorites, Daniel must have been on the list.

Keep looking through the Bible at the various people that God chose to be his special helpers. In elementary school if the teacher chose you to be a special helper, oh boy, what a privilege! What a power trip! Perhaps you got to hand things out to the class, or stand at the teacher’s desk for a few minutes while everyone else stayed put.

When God chooses special helpers, it is also a great honor. But such folks in the Bible seem very often to end up in places like lions’ dens, fiery furnaces, muddy pits, prisons, sitting in ashes, covered in boils, shipwrecked at sea, burned at the stake, or crucified.

Read Luke 16:19ff. Who would you say was God’s favorite— the rich man or Lazarus? If we answer that God’s favorite is the wealthy man because he has such an easy life, we have it backwards.

..Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.. James 2:5

Even though we can’t measure each other’s sufferings and don’t always know what they are, it certainly seems that some people are more blessed than others and that some people have to suffer more than others. Why? I do not know.

But I know this: being blessed in a way that others can see is not necessarily proof of God’s approval. Nor is suffering a proof of His anger.

Furthermore God doesn’t miscommunicate orders. What we’re called upon to endure may seem harsh and unfair. Sometimes we don’t understand why. But this is war. And we are soldiers. And often the best soldiers are called upon to do the most difficult tasks. Furthermore, though we may be called to sacrifice, it isn’t “for the greater good,” as in: we go to the grave so the General can go home victorious. It’s for our good. So we can go home victorious.

And the greater the task, the more glory in victory.

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3

Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. Revelation 2:10b NIV

Dear God, Your ways are not our ways, and our wisdom is foolishness compared to Your wisdom. So please help us to trust in You and in Your word when we do not understand. Help us to see not as the world sees, but as You see. And when we cannot see because of too many tears, help us to walk by faith with the help of Your Holy Spirit and Your dear Son Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins

“The Charge of the Light Brigade”
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.

II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
   Someone had blundered.
   Theirs not to make reply,
   Theirs not to reason why,
   Theirs but to do and die.
   Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.

III
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
   Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
   Rode the six hundred.

IV
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
   All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
   Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
   Not the six hundred.

V
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
   Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
   Left of six hundred.

VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
   All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
   Noble six hundred!