Blame And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” John 9:2 ESV Who sinned – “Blaming others for our suffering is the world’s most tragic mistake. One who blames another – no matter who – not only blemishes emuna, but forfeits the Divine intervention that he or she would have received had they appealed to Hashem. Once a victim forfeits Divine intervention, he or she will fall into the hands of the tormentor.”[1] The disciples’ presupposition about handicaps, illness and other human tragedies is this: Whenever we see something that does not conform with our idea of perfect and holy, it must be the result of sin. God would never allow such tragedy if it were not for sin. Because of this assumption, the disciples naturally conclude that being born blind (a terrible tragedy in their minds) must be the result of sin. Therefore, someone must have sinned; someone must be to blame! The focus of their attention is not on the victim nor on the purpose of God in the life of the victim. The focus is on the cause! These men were good Jews. They grew up in a Jewish culture. They were educated by rabbis. They held a Hebraic worldview – sort of! The truth is that they had all this background and still made the usual human mistake of looking for causes rather than purposes. Yeshua corrects their perspective. But He does not correct their assumptions. He points them to purpose rather than cause but He does not say that there is no cause. He just directs them toward the realization that cause does not matter! Does sin cause illness? Probably. Is illness always caused by sin? Who knows? Yeshua’s point is that this question looks in the wrong direction. Whatever the present circumstances, the real question is, “What will God make of this?” The redirection from cause to purpose applies to all of our circumstances. It helps us realize that life is not what we make of it. Life is what God desires to make of it. Once we shift our point of view from “How did this happen to me?” to “What is God going to accomplish through this?” everything about life changes. Now the circumstances of our lives become the vehicle of righteousness – no matter what they are! Now we look for God’s handiwork in our situation because we are attuned to how He will use our condition to further His Kingdom. Now it’s not about us. And if it’s not about us, how it happened doesn’t matter at all. Today you and I can redirect our lives by shifting from cause to purpose. What is now the case is the clay that God will use to shape what He wishes. What is now the case is the substance of His restoration and righteousness. There is no purpose in complaint or blame. All of that is merely what brings about the Potter’s design. Get on the wheel and let Him go to work.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 22:05:50 +0000