WATCHWORD:
12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24 After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Meditation:
The Blame Game, Part 1
“It was his fault.” “She made me do it.” “The devil made me do it.” “Don’t look at me, I know nothing of it.” “Those two are responsible, my hands are clean.” “I am not responsible.” “Don’t blame it on me if God made you become a farmer.”
The blame game is the longest running sport in the world. We easily track it back to Genesis 3 and that poor serpent that, apparently, was at the root of all evil in the world. Poor little snake. Should we call it the “sin-maker”? Or was it something other than the serpent?
We see the blame game running throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament people reaching out and hurting others in order to shift blame from the responsibility that they should be taking. And here we are, still at it!
Guess what? No one gets away with it in the end. God, walking in the cool of the evening in the garden of Eden and found the sin-makers, desperately trying to cover-up, not just their bodies, their act of disobedience. It’s not only crime that doesn’t pay, blame doesn’t either.
Do you know why Moses was denied access to the Promised Lane? He was taken up on Mount Hermon where he could look across at the beauty of that land and was told by God that he would die there? What did he do that deserved this punishment?
God said to Moses, “Why did you not believe me? I told you clearly, simply speak to the rock and water would gush out. But you got all upset and took your staff and beat on my rock. Why?”
“The people made me do it, Lord. They are such stubborn people and they would not listen. It really made me angry. Besides, I didn’t do such a bad thing, I just hit the rock with my staff once or twice and the water came out just fine. You saw that, didn’t you? It all worked.”
“Moses, why did you not believe me?”
“It was just once, God. Those people can really be upsetting at times. It didn’t mean anything.”
Alas, but it did mean something. For Moses, it meant he could look at the Promised Land, but could not touch it. But, you say, that was a gigillizion years ago, so what?
Ah, yes, so what? Unfortunately, the blame game is still around; vicious, poisonous, disrupting relationships, creating hardships, and spreading even among loved ones. The blame game ruptures relationships and takes even a small slight, and, in dark moods, nurtures it, fertilizes it with imagined wrongs, and soon it grows into a wall of division, that threatens the gift of God’s Love.
So, what? That is the point. When we fail to believe God’s love, when we fail to believe God’s word, when we fail to honor the gifts and graces that He provides, it is a big ‘So What?’ Precious gifts of love and grace between people cannot grow, cannot develop and, in turn, cannot become a blessing in the face of manufactured or imagined animosity. Relationships falter and die, even between parent and child, and there is weeping in Heaven.
The blame game is a violation of “Thou shalt not bear false witness”, and “Love others as I love you.” Where did we hear those before? Oh, yeah, that’s what God said. Do we believe Him? Amen.
Bulletin Board:
Who would have believed it? Here it is near the end of July and the Cubs still have a perfect record!
Closing Prayer:
God of Tender Love, at times our desire to fit in has led us to compromise our authenticity and to avoid our responsibilities as Your children. Remind us daily that we are Your beloved, and that we belong to You. Help us to find deep connection and community with You, Heavenly Father, and with the family which Christ has gathered around Himself. Amen.
