A little boy blames his sister for the mess in his room, even though she had nothing to do with the clutter. A little girl accuses her brother of breaking her favorite doll, but he never touched the toy. I think most of us know events like these play out daily in homes everywhere.

Children soon discover they may avoid the immediate troubles of guilt by blaming someone else. Never mind they accuse an innocent party who’s punished for something they did. At that moment they only care about escaping their problems.

Scripture tells us the blame game is as old as man and sin. After God Created Adam and Eve and gave the law, they both sinned. When God confronted each one of them they tried to shift the blame. Adam said Eve was the cause, and Eve turned it to the serpent. (Gen. 3:12-13) So the art of denial and pointing the finger come from our earliest ancestors, and I am afraid many of us are too good.

Even more absurd than Adam shifting guilt is how he blames God. He said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” It’s almost as if Adam is griping about God’s gift. Like he is saying, “God it is your fault for giving me a defective woman who sinned and then enticed me to sin.”

How did that work out for him? (Gen. 3:17-19) We might fool others by the sleight of hand known as deny and deflect, but we cannot trick God. He knows our every thought, deed, and motive. God sees through all efforts to deceive. He knows everything and judges rightly. It is foolish to blame God because His nature and character are above reproach. Adam did not get away with it, and neither will we.

We often rant and rave against God for our problems and misfortunes when we caused the heartache. Solomon said, “When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD”. (Prov. 19:3) Is God to blame when a drunken father’s accident kills his children, but he survives? He may curse God and deny His love and grace over something he alone brought about. Who is to blame when a wife routinely cheats on her husband and her family implodes before her eyes? She may grieve and beg her husband’s forgiveness, but it is too late. Her husband and children are gone. So, her anger turns against God, but only she is at fault.

Some people blame God for life’s problems and evils. They may question why an All Wise, Knowing, and Powerful God would let people live in anguish and misery. Why has my life been so hard and at times unfair? Why did a loved one die suddenly and tragically? Why do innocent children sometimes suffer sickness, pain, and death?

These questions, and others like them, show how foolish we are to challenge God. Remember when Job’s wife recommended that he “Curse God and die” (Job. 2:9) because she thought his suffering was God’s doing? Following his story further we read about how three friends blamed him for his suffering and Job’s rejection of their charges. They were making arguments on what they did not understand by stepping into Divine matters. After this lengthy debate a fourth friend, Elihu, spoke up and reprimanded them all.
Job 34:10 – “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
In context of Elihu’s response (chapters 32-37) he made one simple point: God is superior to man in every way and no one is God’s intellectual equal. They were all talking about matters they did not understand.

Then, beginning in chapter 38, God spoke on His own behalf showing how foolish Job was by his answers.
Job 38:2 – “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 40:8 – Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

To Job’s credit he recognized God was right and his own foolishness for the way he responded to his friends.
Job 42:2-3 – “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

God Created a perfect world and then people messed it up by sinning. Some of the natural heartaches and hardships came as punishment for this sin. Sickness and death occurred when God drove Adam and Eve from the garden and the Tree of Life. (Gen. 3:22-24) Part of Eve’s punishment was pain in childbirth, and Adam would struggle with “thorns and thistles” as he tried to provide for his family. (Gen. 3:16-19) If you want to blame someone or something for the troubles of life, blame Satan, Adam and Eve, and sin. We might also blame ourselves because we too sin.

Israel had a way of accusing God for their failures and problems, but God turned it back on them. “Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? (Ezekiel 18:29) Even after centuries as God’s people and countless examples of His blessings and judgments, they still did not appreciate how foolish it is to blame God. Not one time did it work out well when they rebelled against Him. Take care for it is just as foolish for us to blame God for our problems.

Terry Starling