Shifting the Blame
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And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Our passage today picks up immediately after last week’s passage. Adam and Eve fell for the serpent’s lies and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden them to eat.
Immediately, they feel exposed and ashamed even in front of each other. They use leaves to cover their bodies, because they are suddenly embarrassed.
When they hear God moving through the garden, they hide. They covered themselves in front of each other, but they don’t want God to see them at all.
God calls out to them, “Where are you?” And they answer, “We’re hiding because we are embarrassed to be seen naked in front of you.”
God asks, point blank, “Did you eat the fruit I told you not to eat?” It’s a simple yes or no answer.
What is the response Adam gives?
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
God turns to Eve and again asks her a direct question.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Did you notice that neither Adam nor Eve could answer God’s question without adding something extra?
God didn’t ask Adam what Eve did. God didn’t ask Eve about the serpent. Yet, they felt compelled to share this extra bit of information.
Why?
Shifting the Blame
Shifting the Blame
They had to make sure God knew that what happened wasn’t their fault. Isn’t it funny how some people can never take responsibility for their actions? Even when they are caught red-handed, they did nothing wrong. It was something somebody else did. “I only did this because so-and-so left me no choice.”
The fact is, everyone of us has done this at one time or another. We will do anything to protect our egos from the feeling of shame. So we shift the blame.
The Devil Made Me Do It!
The Devil Made Me Do It!
Eve is literally the first person to use the old, “The devil made me do it” excuse!
And we are so quick to make our sin Satan’s fault.
Yes, he is the tempter. Yes, he is out to destroy us. But the devil cannot force any of us to sin. The serpent did not cram the fruit down Eve’s throat. It doesn’t matter how much he lied about the fruit, about what it could and could not do; it doesn’t matter how much he lied about the character of God. The one indisputable fact is that God said, “Don’t eat this fruit.” Eve ate it anyway.
We know that the devil is a liar. We know he is tempter. So our job is to stay clear of his lies and temptations.
I Was Set Up!
I Was Set Up!
Adam was so quick to blame Eve. “You don’t understand, God. She put the fruit in my hand! If she hadn’t done that, I would have been fine.”
We like to blame others for our problems. Anyone who has been in an abusive situation will tell you that one of the reasons it’s so hard to escape is because they are made to feel like they deserve it.
“I’m sorry I hit you, but you did have it coming. You know how angry you get me. If you hadn’t done that one thing, it would have never happened.”
But what does scripture tell us?
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and give no opportunity to the devil.
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
When Jesus told the parable of the talents, he shared about the one who had been given the one talent. He took it and buried it.
When the master returned called his servants to bring back his money, two of them returned with more money than they had been given. The one handed back the one talent.
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,
so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’
All three men knew the master’s character, that he expected his servants to produce for him. The first two took that knowledge as a lesson that they needed to invest that money and reap a profit for the master. The third man tried to make it the master’s fault that he didn’t do anything with the money he’d been given.
When we stand before God, he’s not going to care about WHY you sinned. You can’t make someone else your excuse for the choices you made.
Let’s look at another way we shift the blame.
It’s God’s Fault
It’s God’s Fault
Adam, if you pay attention to what he said, doesn’t just blame Eve.
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Did you catch that? “The woman WHOM YOU GAVE to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Adam was blaming God for the fact that he sinned!
People do this all the time. They reject God because they perceive him as being too judgmental, of being cruel. They blame him for all the evil in the world because he doesn’t supernaturally intervene and make it all stop. In essence, they think they know how the world should be, and they want to dictate to God how he should do things.
The book of Job tells the famous story of how God allows the devil to take everything away from this godly man named Job. He loses his children, every bit of his wealth, and even his health. Job sits in physical and emotional pain while his supposed friends accuse him of being sinful and tell Job he got what he deserved.
Job’s bitterness finally gets the best of him, and in chapter 31, Job demands answers from God. He starts listing all the good he has done and all the ways he has avoided evil. He’s basically saying, “I did everything right. I’m supposed to be blessed, not cursed. God is treating me evilly.”
Another way we blame God is when we say things like, “That’s just how I am.” Basically, it’s blaming God for creating us with proclivity toward a certain kind of temptation—whether it be a wandering eye, a tendency to drink to much, or a hot temper.
Today’s arguments about gender and sexuality all hinge on people wanting the freedom to be, as they call it, “their real selves.” I was born this way.
This argument is that God created them to do what they do, like who they like, and perceive themselves they way they perceive themselves.
They deny their responsibility in the choices they make.
God did create each of us. Every talent we have is a gift from God. The things we are interested in are part of God’s design adding to our uniqueness. But we have control over how far we take things. Just because I’m interested in something doesn’t mean I’m free to pursue it. I love classical art. That doesn’t give me the right to go take a Rembrandt out of the museum.
Shifting the Blame
Shifting the Blame
We want so much to shift the blame. But it doesn’t work. When we try to shift the blame, we aren’t fooling anyone but ourselves. God sees through all the blame shifting.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
When we stand before God on that final day, we won’t have the luxury of excuses and blame. We will be held accountable for how we lived our lives.
As long as we shift the blame, we refuse to accept responsibility for our own sin. But sin that we refuse to acknowledge is still sin. By shifting the blame and denying our sin, we actually deny Jesus the opportunity to make us clean. How can you repent a sin that you won’t own? How can Jesus forgive a sin you deny committing?
If we are going to be right with God, we have to be honest with God, and with ourselves. We need to search our hearts right now and ask God to reveal to us what sin might be lurking in us that we have refused to acknowledge. We need him to show us sin we have made excuses for because we blamed others for making us do it.
“I cuss because that’s all I heard growing up.” “I have every right to hate that person. You don’t know the pain they caused me.” “I know that the way I’m living would be considered sin by strict interpretation of the Bible, but it’s how I have to operate to survive. You don’t know the demands being put on me.”
We can make excuses for our sin all day long, but it’s still our sin, and it’s separating us from God. It’s time to stop making excuses. It’s time to stop shifting the blame. Let’s pray.
