Let’s admit it, we can all be good at playing the blame game. Especially when we sense some painful consequences coming upon us, as quick as lightening. We panic and point to the nearest victim or circumstance we can shake our finger at. Apparently, this bad habit began in the garden.

¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ 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.”  Genesis 3:11-13

Adam blamed Eve and there is even a hint that He blamed God because God created Eve for Adam. Eve blamed the serpent.

In NASB Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible Notes it says, “Sin impels us to blame others for our disobedience and folly, but God holds us personally accountable for what we do.”

Eve chose to listen t0 the serpent. Adam chose to take the fruit from Eve. No one made them do anything. Eve was deceived. She listened to the lies of the enemy and disobey God. She then proceeded to encourage her husband to do it as well. God was clear about His expectations and the rules. He was clear about the consequences also. This choice would lead to death.

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
¹⁶ To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸ “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:14-19

Painful consequences we are still feeling today. Sometimes I want to blame stuff on Adam and Eve too but just like they made choices so do we. My choices have not always been the right ones. I have listened to the lies of the enemy and fallen many times. I have been the voice in my husband’s ear that Eve was to Adam.

I find that each generation seems to get worse with the blame game. We live in a culture that is exceedingly entitled.

How do we break this cycle? We need to start taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions. Share on X“We need to encourage our children to be honest with themselves and those around them instead of giving them room to blame others and their circumstances. We need to be willing to give consequences and stick with them. We need to stop giving excuses for everything and everyone.

²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:23-24

The most severe consequence of them all was the loss of the life with God in the garden. The uninhibited relationship with God. My heart hurts just reading this. I am thankful God loved us enough to have a plan to send Jesus for us. He had a plan to restore this broken relationship but it would be a long and painful journey.

Are there areas of sin in your life that need to be brought out in the open? Are there choices you are making that need honest repentance? Let’s allow God to examine our hearts and expose anything that is not of Him. Let’s ask Him to give us clean hands and a pure heart before Him and others. It is a hard step to take and there may be consequences but there is forgiveness and restoration in Jesus. Let’s not allow satan to keep us in bondag by hiding behind excuses and playing the blame game.

Lord, I pray we would invite you to examine our hearts today. Show us if there is any sin in us. I pray if we are in a cycle of bad choices that you would bring us to a place of honest repentance before you. Cleanse us oh Lord.  I ask for forgiveness for those moments when we have blamed others or our circumstances instead of being honest about our sin and taking responsibility for our choices. Free us today in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen!