We have all played the blame game.  Adam and Eve were the first.  And I guess they taught it to their kids.  Cain blamed Abel and so on and so on

God made a Covenant with Abram to give him a son and through this promised son, God would make Abram into a great nation, bless him and make him a blessing to all other nations on Earth.  Isaac became the promised son.  Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau.  Esau was the oldest and as the oldest, in that culture, his was both the birthright and the blessing of his father, Isaac.  The birthright was the authority or judge over the clan of the family.  The blessing was a double-portion of the inheritance.

In Genesis, when it is time for Isaac to give his blessing to Esau, Esau’s mother, who favored his brother, Jacob, helped Jacob to trick Isaac into giving the blessing to the younger son instead of the eldest.

When Jacob is successful in deceiving his father to gain the rightful blessing of his older brother, Esau says this:

“Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.”

Genesis 27:36 (ESV)

Now, if you don’t know the story, let me tell you about the birthright.  Esau responds as if Jacob has taken his blessing in the same way that he later stole away the blessing, but this is not true.  Esau had been out in the field hunting and when he came in from hunting one day, he was hungry.  His brother, Jacob, had made a stew that apparently smelled delicioso to Esau, and he was famished. 

He asked Jacob for some stew and Jacob bargained with him.  He agreed to give Esau a bowl of stew and Esau agreed to give Jacob his birthright.  Now, say what you want about a brother who offers a bowl of stew for his brother’s birthright, but it was not Jacob’s fault that Esau gave up his birthright so easily.  That’s on Esau, but he does not own up to his mistake.  He valued his birthright so little that he gave it up for a bowl of stew.  

Isn’t it something how we can so easily blame others for things that are really our fault?  We justify our bad behavior because someone else behaved badly.  We play the blame game blaming our faults on everyone else.  

The blame game separates us from the Lord.  When we blame others for our own faults, we allow sin to get between us and the Lord.  It is God Himself that is our portion.  In Him, we have favor.  We have protection.  We have all that He is.  

God was not pro-deceit.  He was not pleased with what Jacob did.  And the Lord blessed Esau anyway.  We see that later in life.  And there is no way for me to say that if Esau would have taken ownership for giving so little value to the birthright of his father, perhaps the Lord would have protected him from the deceitful plans of Jacob.  But we do know Esau was not living in the full measure of God’s favor because he had not repented.  

We cannot play the blame game.  We can’t blame other people for our sinful actions, attitudes, and thoughts.  Repentance brings us into the Father.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Return to the LORD your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;

Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)

Sin takes us far from Him and with repentance, we return to Him.  

Leave me a comment.  What sin in your life are you blaming on other people’s behavior? 

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