“They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts … and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.”
We all need a goat.
A scapegoat, that is.
Someone to take the heat, to take the blame for our own sins.
In the Book of Leviticus, it is written that the sins of the community are placed onto the head of a goat, who is then sent out into the desert – a very early method of ridding ourselves of guilt.
I bet a lot of people don’t know the origins of that word. Look it up: Leviticus 16, 5-10.
But we still do this today. We look for a scapegoat. Maybe it’s your little brothers. Your sisters. The cat. The dog. Anyone but me, eh?.
After all, whenever we get into trouble, the first thing we do is find someone else to blame.
Noah blamed the rain. Adam blamed Eve. Makes sense.
But the funny thing is, you can’t really win this battle.
God knows. He really does.
You might blame someone else … and maybe your friends will believe you. Maybe the police will believe. Maybe a jury of your peers will believe you.
But God knows.
You may turn your back … hoping He will not see. Or, perhaps, not caring if He sees anything at all. But the truth is this: He sees. He cares. He judges.
The prophets of the Old Testament knew this. They warned others. They were seldom believed.
Same thing today.
We may think that nobody hears us when we gossip. Nobody reads our mind when we unfairly judge others that we encounter. Nobody sees the web pages we visit.
But He does.
That’s why He admonishes us: Never turn your backs away from Him, but turn your hearts toward Him.
There is no use in pretending. If we believe in God, we believe that He is all-knowing and all-powerful. How could you think He does not know what you do or think in the silence of your own heart?
During this Lenten season, now is the time to examine our conscience … to really take stock of what drives us to do the right thing, or the wrong thing.
Don’t be afraid to identify what is preventing you from getting along with your wife, your children, your boss or your neighbors. Be true to yourself … be true to God.
Doing anything else is just folly.
Look … He is here with you. Reading over your shoulders. Watching as your fingers strike the keyboard.
Will you Delete? Will you Share?
Only you know for sure.
But God will be watching.
