Howbeit Thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for Thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. Nehemiah 9:33
If there is one statement that marks our current society is it the all-prevalent excuse that ‘It’s not my fault’. It’s never the murderer’s fault that he killed somebody because he had a disruptive childhood. It’s never the welfare collector’s fault that he can’t get a job because nobody will look past his pierced ears, nose, eyebrows and tongue to give him a chance. It’s not the parents’ fault that their children run wild in the streets because they need to work overtime to pay for the new speedboat. It’s not the student’s fault that he failed his courses because the teacher didn’t give him enough incentive to learn. It’s not the children’s fault that they are noisy and disruptive because it was their parents who fed them with all the sugary treats. And on it goes, with nothing that happens to anybody being their own fault, and nobody taking responsibility for their actions. Some United States jurisdictions, for example, allow people to plead ‘no contest’ in court so they don’t have to admit that they are guilty. So our text is a refreshing admission by people that they were wrong.
As the Israelites who gathered in Jerusalem met to carry out the Feast of Tabernacles, their prayer of praise and worship spoke of all of their afflictions over the centuries, acknowledging that God was just in his punishment. Frankly they declared that God had done right but they had done wickedly. They had no excuses to offer and nobody else to blame. They were seeing the situation as God sees it. And that is something for us to remember when we are tempted to pass the blame to somebody else or to excuse our own shortcomings: God knows exactly whose fault it is when things go wrong.
Remember how our first parents tried to shift the blame when they had sinned, with Adam blaming the woman the the woman blaming the snake. But God had told Adam what would happen if he ate of the forbidden fruit. Adam had no excuse although he tried to create one. Neither have we any excuse when brought face-to-face with our sins. This we had to do before God could save us. He could not overlook our disobedience nor accept our lame excuses. Nothing but a full admission that we were wrong was acceptable before God could interpose His grace and reveal His Son to us. What we need to realize is that we are still wrong far too often, and we need to admit (confess) to God that we are wrong. Otherwise His grace to allow us to overcome our weaknesses and shortcomings will not be available.
How dare we blame others, or even blame God, when we are the ones who are in the wrong? God is just in all that he has brought upon us. -Jim MacIntosh