Who's to Blame? by Susan Barnes
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" John 9:1
The disciples ask Jesus who's to blame for a man being born blind. It is an interesting phenomenon that when things go wrong we look for someone to blame. If you are familiar with Winnie the Pooh you may remember the time Pooh Bear visited Owl. While he was there the wind blew Owl's house out of the tree. Initially Owl thought it must be Pooh's fault but when he realized it wasn't he said, "No blame can be attached".
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where no blame can be attached. We live in a broken world and things go wrong for no apparent reason. Yet this is an uncomfortable reality because it makes us realize that we can't control all our circumstances.
Therefore when there is no one else to blame we will sometimes blame ourselves. We tell ourselves if we'd tried harder, prayed more, study the Bible regularly, things would have worked out the way we wanted. This is simply not true. We cannot manipulate God or our circumstances in this way.
Instead let's remember God is in control and he can be trusted to have our best interests at heart. We can live with uncertainty when our faith is in a good God. We don't do ourselves or God any favours by assuming unnecessary blame.
Susan, an Australian pastor's wife, regularly writes devotional thoughts on Bible passages, book reviews and inspirational articles. Contact
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" John 9:1
The disciples ask Jesus who's to blame for a man being born blind. It is an interesting phenomenon that when things go wrong we look for someone to blame. If you are familiar with Winnie the Pooh you may remember the time Pooh Bear visited Owl. While he was there the wind blew Owl's house out of the tree. Initially Owl thought it must be Pooh's fault but when he realized it wasn't he said, "No blame can be attached".
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where no blame can be attached. We live in a broken world and things go wrong for no apparent reason. Yet this is an uncomfortable reality because it makes us realize that we can't control all our circumstances.
Therefore when there is no one else to blame we will sometimes blame ourselves. We tell ourselves if we'd tried harder, prayed more, study the Bible regularly, things would have worked out the way we wanted. This is simply not true. We cannot manipulate God or our circumstances in this way.
Instead let's remember God is in control and he can be trusted to have our best interests at heart. We can live with uncertainty when our faith is in a good God. We don't do ourselves or God any favours by assuming unnecessary blame.
Susan, an Australian pastor's wife, regularly writes devotional thoughts on Bible passages, book reviews and inspirational articles. Contact
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