INTRODUCTION: Not everything bad that happens to you is the devil’s fault or is it God’s fault.
Sometimes things happen to us because of our own bad choices or wrong turns we made. Some of us need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for our own selves.   We’re good at being blame-shifters. We blame fast food restaurants for making us fat. We blame tobacco companies for giving us cancer. We blame the church for our lack of spiritual growth. We blame the Pastor if we don’t ‘feel’ the anointing’.  We blame God for the results of our poor choices.  We point fingers and blame everyone and everything but ourselves.  

  We start playing the ‘blame game’ before we ever begin school. A three-year-old trips over a toy and falls. He picks himself up off the floor, throws the toy across the room and says, “Mean toy, you made me fall!”

  He’s already learned to play the blame game. The blame game is a most destructive game. Every time something goes wrong, it seems that we try to blame someone or something.

  This deadly game started at the beginning of time, in the Garden…. God asked Adam “ Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”   

  You know! You’ve heard this all too often “It’s not my fault, the devil made me do it.”

  And sadly it continues….

  A man who is a drunkard says, “It’s my wife’s fault, she drove me to it.” An abusive husband beats his wife and then blames her, “It’s your fault, you shouldn’t have made me mad!” Someone cheats on their spouse and blames the spouse….”My wife doesn’t satisfy my needs at home. It’s her fault I cheat.” “My husband ignores me and doesn’t give me the love I crave so it’s his fault I have to seek love elsewhere.”

  Or take a couple who’s getting a divorce. Immediately friends or family start choosing up sides. They’re ready to play the ‘blame game’.  Sides are chosen and hearts are broken.

   Or you’re driving 75 mph in a 55 mph zone. You’re pulled over and given a ticket that gives you enough points to have your license suspended. Who is to blame? Not you. It’s the officer’s fault; he should have been a little more sympathetic to your situation.   You break the law, go to jail and who do you blame?  Your parents, your friends, the system but never yourself!   Unil we take responsibility  for our wrong choices, we will never mature or heal.

   The ‘blame game’ is a popular game and it’s a destructive game but  unfortunately we live in a society where it’s not only acceptable, but also profitable to shift the blame. But does this mean it’s acceptable and profitable in God’s eyes? It’s hard for us to accept blame. It’s a defense mechanism to keep us from having to deal honestly with our mistakes.

Playing this dangerous game never heals, it always hurts!
It never repairs relationships. It only destroys relationships.
It never unites, it only divides.
It never builds, it always tears apart.
It never solves a problem. It only makes the problem bigger.

  Stop making excuses! Stop playing the ‘blame game’! We must stop blaming others! When we blame another person, we’re playing God. This is a part that none of us is qualified to play. Blaming others is all too often a copout. It can be a coverup for our own shortcomings, our own faults that we are unwilling to face or admit.

  Someone loses a child to an unfortunate accident, who’s to blame? They start pointing fingers and blaming…it’s your fault. “If you’d watched him more closely, this wouldn’t have happened.” If! If! If!   And then they blame God and scream… “Where were You God? Why didn’t You protect my child?” People blame God for taking their loved ones too soon and swear they’ll never trust God again.  Sometimes it’s sin that takes our loved one and not God at all!  

  A sibling or parent dies from some deadly disease brought on by their own actions, do they blame the sibling or the parent? No! They sue the cigarette company, it’s their fault.  

  Oh how I wish I could say to these people, the things I know to be true….It’s not God!

  “The rain falls on the just and on the unjust.” “It’s not how long a person lives, but how he lives. It’s the quality of life that counts.” “This life is only temporary. The best is yet to come!”
  “Life is not fair. There are many unjust things that happen to us in this life, but God will straighten out all these things for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.” (Romans 8:28)

  Man is never a failure until he blames somebody else.

  In His love, 

Elizabeth