How many of you know that whenever anything bad happens, the first thing most of us do is look for someone to blame? I guess in a sense one could say, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” since our ancestors, Adam and Eve, were the first to initiate this game.
After they sinned, God asked them, “Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?” Immediately, Adam responded, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” If we look closely, we’ll notice that while Eve was the second person Adam blamed, the first person was God. You put the woman here, so it’s your fault. If I had been here alone, I wouldn’t have sinned. Eve didn’t do any better. When God asked her, “What is this you have done?” She responded by putting blame on the serpent. “The serpent deceived me and I ate.” How easy it is to blame God and other people when things go wrong.
Nothing has changed. Ever since the fall, mankind’s default setting has been to blame someone else when trouble comes. When called out for fighting, children are quick to say, “He hit me first.” Criminals, when caught, are often quick to be forthcoming with the names of others they can blame for having more responsibility for the crime.
We in America are especially quick to blame those in authority when unavoidable trouble comes, as though the government should somehow alleviate all suffering and prevent or fix every unprecedented situation. We expect from our leadership things that only God can do. The political party that isn’t in power makes every attempt to place blame on the other side. They imply or state that had they been in the Whitehouse, they would have performed flawlessly.
I hate the blame game, and I particularly hate it when a political party tries to use a crisis or disaster for their own agenda/political advantage, whether by trying to hide money for abortions in the coronavirus spending package or by constantly criticizing everything the president and his team say and do. If someone in their party had been in power, the same actions would have been (or perhaps were in the past), praised.
Come on America! Can we not, in a time of national crisis, lay our weapons down and, at least temporarily, remember that we’re on the same team? Can we not lay aside our agendas and speak encouraging words for our leaders who are working around the clock to keep our country as safe as possible? Can we not look to the only Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient One, rather than mocking those in government when they pray publicly about this crisis?
I would like to add a few more requests to the ones our government is making of us during the coronavirus crisis. Let’s stop criticizing and complaining about decisions our leaders are making, let’s stop using the situation for our own political gain, and let’s stop expecting things of our government that only God can do. Perhaps if we were to attempt those behaviors even for two weeks, it would become a habit and our nation would be transformed.
The psalmist said, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.” Only God has all the answers. Only God has the ability to do everything perfectly.
Heavenly Father, we repent for looking to our government for things that only you can do. Remind us often to lift our eyes to you, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, from whom our help comes. Amen.
