So God is not being “fair”. He is actually being far more merciful than that. But there is much more that we can and need to say in answer to this question.
Firstly, there is the issue of rights. We live in a day when so much is said about our rights. Indeed one of the main issues behind the complaint that God is not being fair is the idea that He is violating my rights. And yet the truth is that I don’t have any absolute rights, but God does. Since God created us, He has absolute creator rights to do whatever He chooses with us, we as His created beings have no absolute rights. Many may not believe that they have been created by God, but that doesn’t change the reality that He has created them. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 9:
Rom 9:20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
Rom 9:21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
Rom 9:22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
Rom 9:23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
Paul’s point is simple – just as the potter has the absolute right to do whatever he likes with a lump of clay, so too does God have the absolute right to do whatever He likes with what He creates (you and I).
And then secondly we are faced with God’s amazing grace. To see only the negative side and not see the positive is to present and argue a totally one-sided and distorted case. Yes, God does reveal His wrath against mankind in this world, BUT and it is a massive but, He also holds out amazing grace towards any who will recognise their sin and truly repent of it. And it cost Him everything to be able to do so. It cost Jesus Christ to go to the cross as a willing substitute to “stand in my place”. He bore the punishment that should have been mine in order that God could forgive me! What amazing grace!
Rom 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Rom 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Rom 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
Rom 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
God not only promises full forgiveness, but so much more besides – adoption into His family, being indwelt by Holy Spirit, prayer as a means to speak with Him, a family of brothers and sisters to share life with, and most important of all – eternal life. An eternity in the presence of Jesus Christ, in a perfect world in which there can be no sin, no pain, no sadness, no viruses and no death!
Friend, no God is not “fair”….He is infinitely more merciful and gracious than that. Despite all that we go through in this world, despite all that follows from Adam’s sin (as this virus), despite the fact that God uses it to teach and to warn and doesn’t immediately intercede to stop the spread of this virus, nevertheless He acts in a totally undeserved, totally amazing way to bless any, and all, who will simply acknowledge who He is, be honest about themselves, and cry out to Him in true repentance to save them and to make them His child!