Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time. 2 Chronicles 16:10
I grew up in a hunting family and can recall going out “hunting” with my father and brother, carrying a toy rifle long before I was old enough to carry a real one. My father taught the local gun safety course, and so, even with that toy gun, I was instructed never to point the muzzle at another person. This is the first rule of gun safety – Never point your gun at anything or anyone that you don’t intend to shoot. This was drilled into us so much that it just became a habit that we expected of ourselves and others. We didn’t tolerate those who carelessly pointed their guns at people. This was a matter of life and death. More than once, I heard my father say, Watch where you point that thing.
This is good advice when it comes to blame as well. When confronted with our own mistakes, it’s often our first impulse to point the blame at anyone but ourselves. This is what happened in today’s passage in which King Asa blamed a prophet of God for his own failure. In the story, Asa turned to the Syrians for military aid when he should have gone to God. Asa’s faithlessness offended God, who sent a prophet named Hanani to confront the king, informing him of the coming consequences for his disobedience. What did Asa do in response? He should have taken responsibility and repented. Instead, he blamed Hanani, throwing him in prison. Then, he turned on his own people. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
I can tell a lot about a person and their chances at recovery when I ask them about why a relapse happened. If they first blame the actions of others, then they’ve not yet taken responsibility. Others may hurt us, but the problem with blaming others for our bad decisions, is that we can’t change anyone else. We can only work on ourselves. So, when confronted with our own failures, it does no good to blame our spouse or to kick the dog. Rather, if we desire to stop self-destructing, we must admit our fault and begin to consider where and how we went wrong. When we fail, it’s easy to point the blame at others, but just like with a gun, it’s a behavior we cannot afford to tolerate.