Taking Responsibility

admin May 3, 2020 1887 0

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

When God asked Adam,
“Who told you that you
are naked?
Have you eaten of the '
tree I commanded you not
to eat from?”
Adam responded,
“The woman you gave me
gave me the fruit from the
tree and I ate it.”
God turned to Eve:
“What have you done?”
She also pointed to someone
else:
“The serpent deceived me!”

(Genesis 3: 9-13).
Adam did not accept
responsibility, neither
did Eve.
They both conveniently
accused someone else for
their shortcomings.
Now, there is another
tendency to blame the
Man of God when things
go wrong. People seem to
believe that with the Man
of God around, they should
never have problems.
So when challenges come,
people become
“The Accusers of the Brethren”.

The Men of God are mocked,
they are insulted, they are
ridiculed.
“You call yourself a Man of
God: Do something!”
Sounds familiar?
Elijah was sent by God to a
widow in Zarephath.
He met her gathering
firewood
and they had a conversation:
God performed a miracle
and the little food she had
lasted a long time for her,
her son and Elijah.
Now, while they were seeing
this daily miracle of food
provision, something
happened: her son died!
We have no idea how long
Elijah had lived with her,
how many days they had
been feeding on her “little
flour in a bowl and little
oil in a jar”, but when her
son died, she made a
strange pronouncement.
She told Elijah,
“What do you have against
me that made you kill my
son?” She accused Elijah
of murdering her son!
She blamed him for it: it
was his fault her son died!
Elijah raised the child back
to life, anyway.
And when the widow saw
her son back from the dead,
she said, “Now I KNOW
that you are a Man of God…”
Seriously?
What about the food miracle
you were seeing every day?
(1st Kings 17:8-24)
Elisha, another prophet had
a similar encounter: a
woman always made it a
point of duty to feed him
whenever he passed
through her town.
She later convinced her
husband they accommodate
him as often as he came
around because she perceived
he was a prophet.
So, this couple accommodated
the prophet.
On a fateful day, Elisha called
the woman and said, “Ma’am,
you have been very generous

towards me these days: how
can I repay you for your generosity?”
Gehazi, Elisha’s servant told
him, “She has no child, sir”.
Elisha told her she would
have a son in a year’s time.
She did.
Now, this boy grew up and
he suddenly died.
The woman went to meet
Elisha and said, “Did I tell you
I wanted a child?
Did I ask you not to deceive
me?”
In other words, I was
okay childless- you gave
me a child I didn’t ask for
and you killed him!
It is YOUR fault!
Elisha also raised this child
back to life.
In these stories, the Men
of God were accused for
the challenges these mothers faced.
The first woman was seeing
daily miracles of food
provision through the prophet,
but when a bigger challenge
came, she accused same
prophet of bringing the
challenge!
The second woman had
no child and the prophet

prophesied she would in
a year.
When a problem appeared,
she accused the prophet
also.
Another story could be found
in 2nd Kings Chapter 6.
Samaria was besieged by
King Benhadad of Syria and
it brought famine to
Samaria.
Nobody could go in or out
of Samaria. things got so
bad that the Samaritans
became cannibals: two
women had an agreement
to eat their children in
turns to survive, they ate
the child of one on the 1st
day but when it was time
for the child of the other
woman to be eaten on the
2nd day, she hid him.
So the woman whose son
was already eaten reported
to the King (verses 24-29).
When he heard, the King
tore his clothes and said,
“May God strike me dead if
Elisha is not beheaded
before the day is over!”
Now, what has Elisha got
to do with it?
Is he the cause of the famine?
Is he a Syrian?
Is he in league with Benhadad,
the King of Syria?
No! so, why blame Elisha for it?
He is a Man of God, simple!
The King felt, why should
we have a Man of God in
this city and we are facing
these challenges?
The irony is, even Jesus
was faced with this.
A message was sent to
Him about Lazarus, “The
one you love is sick!”
They tried to spin it in a
way that would make Him
come to Bethany immediately,
but Jesus still delayed His
coming until Lazarus died.
When He eventually got
to Bethany, Lazarus’s
sisters blamed his death
on His late arrival:
“If you had come earlier,
our brother wouldn’t have
died! We expected you
here earlier!
You’re late!
It’s your fault!”
(John 11:1-32).
Even when He was on
the cross, Jesus was
accused by one of the
thieves crucified with Him.
He was told, “You say
you’re the Son of God:
prove it- save yourself and
us!”
The other thief saw
things differently.
He took responsibility for
his situation.
He understood that he need
not outsource blame like
Adam and Eve did
(Luke 23:39-41).
We live in an age where we
find it difficult to take
responsibility for our actions,
or we blame someone/
something else when we
face challenges.
The sad part is, we also do
this in the church!
We find it very convenient
to blame pastor.
I have heard church folks
say, “Pastor, I am believing
God for my house rent, but
if He doesn’t come through
for me, I will move to your
house!” I have seen church
folks write long lists of
“Prayer Requests” for their
pastors.
They don’t see prayer for
their lives as their own responsibility.
When their desires are
not met, they accuse the
pastor of not praying
enough for them.
I think pastors are culpable
in this because they give
the flock the impression
they are spiritual supermen
who can handle everything.
They don’t teach their flock
to be responsible for their
lives, so when things don’t
work out, they get the
blame.
We need to grow up and
accept responsibility for our
lives and our affairs.
When things do not go well,
we must understand it is our
fault.
We must learn NEVER to
outsource blame to anybody.
That is the difference
between Kings Saul and
David: when they were called
out, Saul said, “It’s the people!”
(1st Samuel 15:19-21).
He tried to remove blame
from himself.
But David accepted
blame.
Immediately he was called
out, he said, “I have sinned!”
(2nd Samuel 12:11-13).
David accepted responsibility.
Saul didn’t.
That was why Saul lost the