Stop Playing The Blame Game

beyond me why those things happened.

I’m tempted to stand here and tell you

many stories about things that have happened

to me and to my family, things that I

fervently wish had never happened. But I

know that you know what I mean.

* Friends hurt us.

* Family hurt us.

* People get seriously sick. They die.

* Jobs bring trouble.

* Hurtful people come our way.

* Earthquakes, lightning, tornadoes

and hurricanes inflict suffering.

* Even our own bodies don’t function

as well as we would like.

* And on and on.

==> Friends, the things that happen to us

are so often inexplicable in terms that we

would like to hear and know.

Who Sinned?

This man had always been blind. The

disciples asked Jesus, "Who sinned?"

For these twelve men, there must have

been a cause. Their thoughts were this:

"Somebody somewhere did something to cause

this unhappy condition of blindness! We want

to know who did what when."

But Jesus’ answer effectively was this:

"Nobody did anything to cause this." Jesus

knew that HIS MEN HAD THE WRONG IDEA, A

MISCONCEPTION about reality.

Accept God’s Providence

If you need a concrete answer about why

things happen, I’ll give it to you right

now. GOD IS SOVEREIGN AND HE IS IN CONTROL.

And He is God, He is the Lord. He is doing

what needs to be done.

The psalmist, long ago, recognized that

our best course of action is to simply trust

in the Lord. Listen to a small portion of

Psalm 37:

Do not fret...Trust in the Lord,

and do good...cultivate faithful

ness...Delight yourself in the

Lord...Commit your way to the

Lord, Trust also in Him. (see

Psalm 37:1-5)

==> (I urge you to read all of Psalm 37

tonight before you rest.)

Some things we can change. Thank God. And

we should endeavor to correct things that

need to be corrected. We are "wired" that

way.

But a great many things we cannot change.

God’s PROVIDENCE IS INFINITELY STRONGER THAT

YOU are. My first District Superintendent,

Dr. W. M. Lynch, used to speak of the

Providence of God often. He would say to me,

"Neal, if in God’s Providence this happens,

then...." Dr. Lynch firmly believed that God

was going to have His will in all our

affairs.

==> So what do you do about the things you

cannot change? Well...you simply accept

those things as God’s plan. And WHAT A

RELIEF ACCEPTANCE BRINGS, namely...

* Acceptance means you stop fighting

the inevitable.

* Acceptance stops a lot of the hurt

and pain.

* Acceptance frees you to not worry

about anything that is out of your

power to change.

* Acceptance enables you "to let go

and let God." Then you know what to

leave alone and what to change.

==> And the result is this: inner serenity.

You Are NOT a Guinea Pig

Back to the blind man, Jesus, and the

disciples. Now think about this: What must

that blind man thought? He probably could

sense the presence of the Lord right in

front of him, even though he could not see.

And 12 men are asking questions of Great

Physician, much like young interns in a

hospital quizzing the attending doctor on a

patient. They wanted certain knowledge about

the situation. They asked, "Why did this

happen?" What must have been running through