WHO YOU GONNA BLAME?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you,
nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. I
have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat
bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”
(1 Kings 13:16-17)

MEDITATION:
The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are.
And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him
back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink
water.’” (But he was lying to him.) So the man of God returned
with him and ate and drank in his house.
(1 Kings 13:18-19)

While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to
the old prophet who had brought him back. He cried out to the man
of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says:
‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the
command the Lord your God gave you. You came back and
ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not
to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the
tomb of your ancestors.’”
(1 Kings 13:20-22)

When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who
had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. As he went on his way,
a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on
the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. Some people
who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the
body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
(1 Kings 13:23-25)

When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it,
he said, “It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord
has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as
the Word of the Lord had warned him.”
(1 Kings 13:26)

We live in a world where guilty people look for others to blame.
Adam was the first “blamer”:
    “The woman you put here with me;
      she gave me some fruit from the tree”
      (Genesis 3:12)

First he blamed God for giving him Eve, and then he blamed Eve
for giving him the forbidden fruit. Eve joined in the ‘blame game’
when she blamed the serpent,
    “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”
    (Genesis 3:13b)

Of course God could see through their attempts to shift blame, and
most of us can see through it in our world too. Shifting the blame
didn’t work for Adam and Eve. God knew who had disobeyed Him
and He spoke the words of punishment

To the serpent:
    So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
    “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will
    crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
    (Genesis 3:14)

To Eve:
    To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very
    severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire
    will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
    (Genesis 3:16)

To Adam:
    To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from
    the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
    “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat
    food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles
    for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your
    brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from
    it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
    (Genesis 3:17-19)

When we disobey God, we take the blame;
He will not accept any excuses or shifting the blame to someone else.

In the scriptures above we see the man was commanded
by the Word of the Lord:
    “For I was commanded by the word of the Lord:
    ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return
    by the way you came.’”
    (1 Kings 13:9)

He obeyed God, until an old prophet told him that an angel
had given different instructions – but the old man was lying.

The man of God disobeyed His instructions and went home with
the old prophet. He effectively listened to man instead of God.
As a result, he faced judgment for his disobedience – he died on
his way home.

ACTION:
We cannot shift blame for our disobedience. It didn’t work
for Adam, Eve, or the man of God, and it doesn’t work today.

When we are faced with a choice to believe man, or believe God’s
Word, we should ALWAYS choose God’s Word. We may be able
to fool some people by playing the ‘blame game’, but we are never
going to fool God when we are disobedient.

Pray the following (and mean it):
“Heavenly Father, help me take responsibility for my actions,
and especially help me to live in obedience to Your Word so I
will not need to take responsibility for wrong actions. Remind
me that I will face a final judgment where I will not be allowed
to make excuses or shift the blame to anyone else. Teach me how
to live a life that is more pleasing to You, and to readily accept
the blame for my actions. Thank You for Your merciful heart
of forgiveness, and Your desire for me to become kind of person
You want me to be.”

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