I’m reading a book called Plan B by Pete Wilson. I’m only on the second chapter, but something I read really stuck out for me. Wilson was referring to the story of Saul and David (1 Samuel). The gist of the story is that David was told by Samuel that he was going to be king. Saul, the current king, took David into his family, but became jealous of David because everyone loved him so much. David was informed that Saul wanted to kill him, so he fled to Nob. In Nob he met Ahimelech, and lied to him about still being in the king’s good favour. Ahimelech helped David by feeding him and giving him a sword. When Saul found out that Ahimelech helped David, he had him killed along with eighty five other priests of Nob, and their families.

What stuck out for me is that Wilson states that, “David’s ultimately responsible for all that slaughter.” He makes this claim by saying that if David hadn’t lied, then Saul wouldn’t have ordered the killings. This really bothered me. Not to say that David wasn’t wrong for lying, but can he be blamed for the actions of someone else? With that logic, you could bring the guilt back to Saul by claiming that David wouldn’t have lied if Saul had not become jealous of him in the first place.

I know David takes responsibility for the deaths (1 Samuel 22: 21-22), but I think that he finally understood that he had done wrong by lying and felt guilty so took the blame upon himself. There is the possibility that he may have been able to prevent Saul from killing the priests, but he cannot be blamed for their deaths. Saul is the one made the order.
In life it is so much easier to blame everyone else for our actions. We use the excuse that Wilson presents, that we wouldn’t have acted a certain way if the person before us hadn’t acted the way they did. David took the noble approach and took the blame upon himself, even when the blame wasn’t his to take. This is a rarity in today’s society. No one wants to take the blame for anything. It’s always someone else’s fault. It’s almost as though we can’t move on towards a solution until we have pinned the blame on someone. Pride is a funny thing. We need the reassurance that we did not do something wrong so we will try to shove the blame onto someone else, and they most likely will try to do the same. It’s a vicious cycle.

It’s time we start taking responsibility for our own actions. In every situation we have a choice. We have the choice of how we will react to the situation at hand. The actions of others may influence our decision to act a certain way, but ultimately we make the choice. The blame is our own. On the flip side, when the blame lands in the hands of someone else, may we be quick to show them grace and forgiveness.

I suck at conclusions, and so with that, I conclude.