Blame Game: From Jobs-to-Job (Poem)

 Scapegoat, misdiagnosis or misplaced blame,

Whatever the name, it’s really all the same.

No matter the problem, we conclude, ‘It is not my fault!’

So we can’t distinguish between ‘the cause and the result…’

The blacks blame the whites, and some vice versa.

All blame governments for their agenda.

For jobs lost, we blame globalization,

Yet insist we’re ‘up for competition’.

No matter the party, we blame presidents.

Then we blame Congressional impediments.

For the mess in Syria, we blame Russia,

Like America’s blamed for Venezuela.

For children’s bad choices, we blame their parents,

And some blame their fathers for their absence.

For flooding of jails, we blame cops and judges,

When we can’t resist our ‘criminal nudges’.

Scapegoat, misdiagnosis or misplaced blame,

Why can’t we see through this devils’ trick and game?

For every problem, God has a mirror just for us,

But we’ll ignore His mirror, just to keep up our fuss.

In all of human nature, there’s a deep-rooted flaw.

We load our ‘camel’ down, until the very last straw!

It’s only when we finally hit our crisis mode,

Do we link our bad fruits to all the bad seeds we’ve sowed.

Then, humbled and broken, grieving all that we have lost,

We’re then ready for God’s mirror, no matter the cost.

It’ll reveal the star role our pride played in our blame game,

And it’ll show us our need to repent in Jesus’ Name .

Friend, God gave me this poem for you to probe,

What He wrote in the book that He calls ‘Job’.

First written of The Bible’s 66 books,

Pause and ponder how to you Job’s lesson looks.

Job blamed his children for their ‘possible sins’.¹

Satan blamed God ‘cause He had Job all ‘hedged in’.²

Acting in fear caused Job his ‘God hedge’ to lose.

Satan got in. Job got a string of bad news!

Job blamed God for all the mess he was then in.³

His friends came to mourn, but then blamed him for sin.⁴

Job wanted his ‘day in court’ with God Almighty!⁵

Then God showed up, but ole Job had no attorney!⁶

Peppered with God’s heavy duty cross-examination,

Job then found himself in an even worse situation!

Looking in the mirror of God’s Words, he sensed in his gut, ‘

I need to repent... quickly, and my blaming mouth to shut!^’7

He did repent and shut up, then to him, God extended Grace.

For all that Job had lost, God gave a whole lot more to replace.⁸

Now you, Friend, tell me what lesson from Job’s blame games will you learn?

From your blame games, what will it take for you to make a U-turn?

Since it’s our nature to play the blame game,

What we all do is find others to shame.

In shaming, their reputations we maim,

While protecting our fame is our real aim.

But it’s our heart and tongue we need to tame,

On our knees, repenting in Jesus’ Name.

We will then beat devils at their own game.

Inspecting ourselves, God’s blessings we’ll claim.

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¹ Job 1:5 and 3:25

² Job 1:10

³ Job 7:20-22, but see 16: 9-14 and 30:19-24.

Ponder this: For what did Job repent in 42:3-6, if not blaming God for unjust punishment?

See:  https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/what-was-jobs-sin

⁴ Job 4-23, 

⁵ Job 9, esp. v.35 and 16:21

⁶ Job 38 - 41

⁷ Job 40:3-5, 42:6

⁸ Job 42:12-17