Taffi Dollar - Make Room by Ending Blame - Part 1
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Last time we talked about making room by letting go. This morning, we want to continue on Making Room, this teaching where we create space, where we allow God to be God and that we don’t allow things in our life to clutter or take the place where God should be. And so, we make room for God in areas of our life. We allow him to take precedence and to do and to be where he is supposed to be as Supreme Master and Lord over every area of our life. And so, when we look at this, we really want to get over into some things this morning that I believe will help us, that will minister to us. I think what we defined as making room, we kind of came up with some things as it relates to the fact that we must begin to create a space for God, amen?
We must create space. He is the life that we have. It is in him that we live, move, have our very being. Without him, we’d be nothing. We’d be lifeless. But he causes us to profit. He causes us to win, to have success in every area of our life. And so, today, we want to look at making room by ending blame, making room by ending blame. And so, we’re gonna spend some time in the Book of Genesis chapter 3. I don’t have a whole lot of Scriptures to go over with you today. I really want to just create concept and insight on this area of blame because I realize that it is something that is so easily a part of our lives. And it can eventually take the place in areas where we don’t see God because we’re allowing blame to be there.
So, let’s look at this today. Blaming is the habit of making other things or things wrong or responsible when different things happen to us. That word «blame,» it is the habit of making other things, making other people, wrong or responsible when difficult things happen to us. And people who blame things rarely change things. When we blame things, we rarely see the change that we want to experience in our life. If we blame people or we blame things, we’re not getting the result, the end result, that we’re after, and it causes things to be delayed. And so, what we’re gonna do is we want to look at Genesis chapter 3, and we’re gonna hang around in this whole event that took place in the Garden of Eden between Adam and Eve when God gave Adam and Eve instructions concerning the tree and when God told them, or particularly told Adam, concerning what to eat and what not to eat.
And so, we want to look at this because we live in a world of blame. Placing blame is easier than ever. Social media, news, allow us to say so easily, «It’s their fault,» without a second thought. «I wouldn’t have done this if it were not for you doing that». But figuring out who’s to blame is not an effective way to address or to heal hurtful situations in our life. If we say, «It was my dog that ate my homework. It’s my coach. It’s my teacher. It’s my spouse. It’s my sibling. It’s the government. It’s the color of my skin». It’s all these things become the reason why we can find blame and get into an ineffective way of addressing hurtful situations. So, we live in a society of victimization, frivolous lawsuits, where there is failure to take responsibility. There’s failure to admit, to own, and to take responsibility.
So, that’s what we want to look at this morning. And let’s turn in Genesis chapter 3. This is the origin of blame. And from this, you’ll see how, over time, that same scenario is trickling down in society today. We don’t have to look far. Sometimes it’s just a matter of looking in the mirror and understanding that there are things that we can do and work that must be done in order for us to get the outcome and see what God wants us to experience in our life. So today, we’re talking about making room by ending blame, making room by ending the blame. I’ll start here. This is the temptation and the fall of man. This is when God spoke, and God spoke to Adam and Eve.
And I’ll just start at verse 1. It says, I’m reading from the New King James Version, «Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, „You shall not eat of every tree of the garden“? ' The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, „You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die"'. Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And the Lord…»
Verse 8, «And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you? ' So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I, '» what, «'hid myself.' He says, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? ' Then the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.' And the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done? ' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'»
So, when we look here at verse 8 and we look at verse 9, and God interrogates and asks Adam about what he has done, this is what I call the origin of blame, when Adam responds and he places the blame of making Eve responsible and making God responsible for what he did. He says here in verse 12, «The woman whom you gave. You are to blame, God, you are responsible because you gave her to me. You gave to be with me». Now, we know God created the woman, gave the woman to Adam, brought her to him, said that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone. He said, «I make him a helpmate for him and be suitable adaptable».
And so, Adam throws it right back at God when God asked him for where he was. God knew that there was a difference, there was a change because they were no longer in the place where God expected them to be. And God came to them to ask them so they could locate where they were. When God located them and asked them to locate themselves, they were in a place of blame. Adam was in a place of pointing the finger and saying that, «It was God who you gave to be with me, and she gave me of the tree». And the Lord said to the woman after that. So, a couple of points I want to establish on here is that God confronts Adam. There’s God’s confrontation of Adam here in verse 8 and verse 9 where God addresses Adam. God deals with Adam. He comes to Adam first and he asks, God asks this question to give him the opportunity to answer honestly and to take responsibility.
But interestingly enough, Adam, it is believed that maybe there was some casual acquaintance that perhaps he had with the serpent that he had not intervened when Eve began to have conversation with the serpent. Perhaps there was a level of familiarity or some type of engagement that Adam had because he was right there when they ate and was right there when that conversation began to take place. So, it’s so important that we understand that God came and God questioned. God began to interview and ask them these things. And so, God specifically reminded Adam here in verse 11 of the command that he had given him not to eat of the tree. He says, «Who told you»? in verse 11. «Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat»?
And so, he reminds Adam of this. And then we see here the response that Adam has concerning his reply to God. And so, we see here that God asked Adam, and Adam does one thing here. He blames the woman, he blames God, but he does not blame the serpent. Adam blames the woman first here. Number two, he blames God. But interestingly enough, he does not blame the serpent. And so, we see here in verse 12 that the woman, in verse 13, that the woman mentions the serpent. She says, «The serpent beguiled me, and I ate». And when you look at that word «beguile,» it means several things, to be tricked. It means to be made a fool of. It means to be taken advantage of. And so, she says here that «it is the serpent that beguiled me, and I did eat».
And so, when we go on here, we see Adam’s response was that there were two of three characters who were present, and Adam blamed the two of them, the woman and God, but not the serpent. And you know what? That same pattern exists today where we blame God for everything. We see so much that is taking place in the world today, so much senseless tragedies. And you know what? People are so quick to blame God and to place the blame on God. And you know what? I believe it started here in the Garden of Eden. I believe it started right here. That was the origin of it. And, you know, through time, that same pattern, that same pattern is existing today. And how many of you know we’ve gotta shine the light out?
We’ve gotta deal with this so that we can see God, and we can experience his plan for our life, and we can see what he wants to do, and turn situations around. Because as long as they blamed, things stayed the same and things did not change. And so, let’s go a little further here. This response that Adam had was charged with disobedience. This is confirmation that God spoke this command only to Adam. This is the command that God spoke to Adam. And so, Eve was informed either by God or she was informed by Adam of what the command was because she was not there.
Now, the fact that there was a response by Adam does not endorse the idea of the superiority of men or nor does it endorse the idea that men are the only ones to whom God will speak. Because we see here in verse 13 and verse 14, God also speaks to the woman. And he says, «What? What? What is this you have done? What is this, Eve, that you have done»? He speaks directly to the woman, relates to her as an individual person. He requires her to answer for herself. He expects a woman to listen for herself. God desired Eve to develop a personal identity in him and that God has a pattern of communicating with each of us in an individual way.
And so, we must understand this today. Because the serpent was near… skip down to verse 14. «So the Lord God said to the serpent: 'Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His feet».
Interestingly enough, the serpent was near. The serpent was very close to where they were because after God questioned Adam, God questioned Eve, and then God questioned the serpent. So, it makes you wonder what type of affiliation, or maybe the serpent was there so frequently that he was not a threat to them. But God did not overlook the serpent, as Adam overlooked the serpent. And I’m sure the serpent probably rejoiced in knowing that he was not being blamed when God asked Adam, «What is this that you have done»? And so, Adam’s response establishes the pattern of blaming woman for man’s sin. We see this here where Adam said, «God, it’s the woman that you gave me. And she gave me up the fruit, and I did eat».
And we see this pattern that has transferred down where the woman is, in many instances, not believed. Eighteen percent of prosecuted rape cases end in conviction. And, you know, 30% of rape cases are never prosecuted. You know why? Because women have not been believed and that same thing exists today and throughout time. It took Jesus coming to elevate the status of woman because her character was questionable, her credibility was on the line, the fact whether or not she could be believed in the court of women. And even as we look in John chapter 8, verse 3 through 11, turn there for just a second. We see this pattern that it even existed in Jesus’s life. And this is the seed of man’s continuing efforts to do the same thing throughout time. And this pattern is obvious, in many instances, such as the account of the woman, as we see here, who was caught in the act of adultery.