If you lived in the early seventies, you may have seen a comedy show staring Flip Wilson. One of his memorable expressions was, “The devil made me do it!!!” This has long been a standard part of the blame game, going all the way back to the garden of Eden. Adam blamed his disobedience on Eve, and Eve blamed it on the serpent. She may as well have said, “The devil made me do it!”
The blame game continues to this day. Have you watched the news? No one wants to admit they have done something wrong. “It’s not my fault. I never would have done it if I hadn’t been provoked.” And they proceed to justify their deed. It is always someone else’s fault.
Scripture is filled with examples of those who either listened to the wrong person, or decided their way was better than God’s way, or went down any number of roads that took them down a dark path.
When Cain murdered his brother, I wonder if he was prepared for the consequences. God said to him, When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. And Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground (Genesis 4:12-13). He was personally responsible for Abel’s gruesome death and reaped the consequences.
Then there is the account of the deluge of water that covered the earth, destroying all but eight people. Noah preached for a hundred years while building the massive vessel (2 Peter 2:5). The people could have listened and turned to the Lord, but they did not and paid a tragic price for their wickedness.
One of the classic accounts of casting blame on another is the first king of Israel, Saul. At the beginning of his reign, he was little in his own eyes, as Samuel described him. We might say he was humble. God told him to attack the Amalekites and utterly destroy them, do not spare man or woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey, Saul attacked the Amalekites, but he took King Agag alive, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good.
God came to Samuel and said, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments (1 Samuel 15:11). Samuel went to King Saul and said, Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord? Saul said, But I did obey the Lord. I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.
Samuel said, You have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command (verses 19-21). Saul then confessed to Samuel that he had sinned, that the reason he did it was because he feared the people, so he obeyed their voice. He asked for pardon for his sin, but it was too late. Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death (verse 35).
James lets us know that the devil doesn’t make us do anything. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death (James 1:14-15). We have control. We can choose to run from that which tempts us, or we can choose to give in to our own desires. We must take personal responsibility for our actions because there are consequences. Paul wrote, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Galatians 6:7-8).
Our God is long suffering with His children when they violate his will and with sinners who have not yet obeyed Him. But do not be fooled, there certainly will come a day of reckoning! (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Today’s Verses: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23).
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By Teresa Hampton