“Blame it on the night
Don't blame it on me
Don't blame it on me”

Those lyrics are from Calvin Harris’ and John Newman’s hit song “Blame”. A simple song, it’s about a man being with a woman he has no right to be with and denying any responsibility. “Blame it on the night” he says.

From the beginning of history man has attempted to escape responsibility for his own actions. When Adam was confronted by God in the Garden, his first response was to blame Eve, and ultimately God; “The woman whom You gave to be with me” (Gen 3:12). It didn’t work then, it doesn’t work now, but we keep trying it.

As the story of King Ahab unfolds we learn very quickly that he is a man of weak character. When he made Baal worship a central feature of life for the nation of Israel he refused to accept any responsibility for the consequences. Sometimes we forget that Israel had the Law of Moses and prophets to reveal God’s will, but still rebelled. So when Elijah declared the coming drought Ahab was fully aware of the reason. He just refused to accept that it was his fault. He refused to accept responsibility for the result of his decision to rebel against God.

After three and a half years of drought the land and people were in bad shape. Ahab had searched everywhere for Elijah without success. Finally while Ahab was desperately looking for water for his livestock God told Elijah to let himself be found. Rather than humbly admitting his sin and finally submitting to God, Ahab revealed his arrogance and pride when he saw Elijah. Without missing a beat he blamed Elijah for the problems caused by his own sin: “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” Elijah didn’t miss a beat either and immediately placed the fault squarely on Ahab’s shoulders, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals.” (1 Kings 18:17-18).

Now before we get all judgy and preachy about Ahab let’s think carefully about how we respond when confronted with our own sin. Do we swell up in pride to defend or excuse ourselves? Be honest now. God doesn’t care about our egos – He cares about our souls and demands our submission to His will. That means when we sin we must learn to admit it and repent, instead of trying to blame it on the night.