Thought for Today
Psalm 25:11 For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Malachi 1:9 And now implore the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. The fault is yours. Will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts.
Matthew 18:15 "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.
1 Timothy 6:13 In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who’s to blame? Whose fault is it? Far too often, those are the first questions asked in any disaster, any tragedy. Far too often, we deal in terms of, “Somebody has to take the fall.”
Like many others, we prayed and talked about the ongoing fires in California during worship last Sunday. We also prayed for the victims last night in our Bible Study. The fires, the devastation and the incredible Santa Ana winds driving all of that remain major topics in the newspapers and on television. Properly so. The destruction and heartbreaking devastation to lives and property are almost unimaginable.
I can’t help but remember one of our congregants who once lived in the affected area remarked in disgust about the ‘blame game’ already going on in the media. What happened? Who is at fault?
Obviously, in order to mitigate what is going on now and to hopefully prevent or mitigate things in the future, the root cause or causes of those fires should be investigated. If arson is involved, it must be determined through careful investigation. And, if so, the culprits must be identified, arrested and tried. I know virtually nothing about forensic investigations of fires, but I assume some of this needs to be done immediately.
The issue troubling that congregant and troubling me this morning, however, is the amount of time, energy are resources being diverted to find and place blame. Once peoples’ safety, security and comfort are restored, there will be sufficient time to assess resource allocations, fire fighting tactics and efforts and everything else associated with this disaster. Right now, there are much greater priorities.
We see this same proclivity for blame assessment in almost every event which takes place, manmade or natural. As I watch all the television coverage of this particular disaster and recall previous coverage of fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc., I always note the excessive attention paid far too early to blame and fault.
We do the same thing individually when dealing with the vicissitudes of our lives. Every time I find myself looking for someone or something to blame when ‘things go bump in the night,’ I am reminded of Adam, “Genesis 3:12 The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’" Much like Adam, I always look for someone else to blame. I may not go so far as to try to lay the blame on God, but I almost always look outside myself for blame. I don’t think that I am the exception to the rule.
I do wish that more news coverage in print and on television would be given to the heroic efforts of all of the citizens, neighbors, friends and strangers who try to help and aid the victims in all of these events. Frequently, the television network news half hour does include at least a single, 1- or 2-minute report of ‘the good news.’ Often at the end of the program, after 10 minutes of news and 28 minutes of commercials, we will be treated to a brief snippet of positive reporting. During this most recent event in California, I have seen reports of all the food truck vendors who have set up free locations where the victims can be fed. One of the people in our Bible Study last night had spoken with family in the greater Los Angeles area and heard about the locations established to receive donations of clothing and household necessities.
There are countless grassroots efforts associated with every disaster. Without government assistance or interference, people help other people. Without asking for any recompense, without seeking any notoriety, people help other people. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the proportions of the news coverage reversed? I cannot imagine 28 minutes of good news with only 10 minutes of other news and 1- or 2-minutes of commercials. But, I can dream!
Stay safe, help each other, trust God,
Pastor Ray