THE BLAME GAME
“And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Genesis 3:12
Some things never seem to change. One such enduring reality is the way we respond when our sin is exposed. The temptation is to blame others rather than own up to our disobedience. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God confronted Adam about his transgression. When God asked Adam if he were guilty, Adam immediately responded with these words, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
Adam’s automatic response was to place the blame for his transgression on someone other than himself. In fact, it appears that he wanted to share the blame for his sin on more than one person. Notice that Adam said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me.” This remark seems to indicate that Adam wanted God to share some of the blame for his sin because, after all, it was God that gave him the wife.
Adam clearly directs some of the guilt toward Eve because “she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” One can only surmise by his answer that Adam was definitely trying to shift the responsibility for his disobedience. If Eve hadn’t offered the fruit, he might not have eaten. If God had not given Adam the wife, it probably would not have happened. But, one thing is clearly missing in Adam’s response. He is not taking personal responsibility for his actions.
Blaming others somehow just seems easier than honestly admitting our wrong. It comes quite naturally for people to rationalize and redirect responsibility. Instead of direct confession of wrong, we hear things such as: “If he hadn’t done what he did, I would not have acted that way.” Our apologies are even laced with sharing the blame. Have you ever heard something like this? “I’m sorry for what I said, but I only said it because you said what you did.” Human nature wants to dodge the guilt. Apparently, one of the hardest things for us to say is “I was wrong.”
This brings before us one of the simplest, yet most serious lessons we could ever learn as growing believers. It is the importance of honesty and sincere confession of our sins. There is no getting around it. We cannot consistently grow in the Lord if we are not willing to be completely truthful about our sin.