The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading PlanPrimjer

REFLECTION

We hardly notice we’re doing it, although some of us do it often. We get mad at God for whatever hardship we find ourselves in. Yet when we dig down to the root of the hardship, we often find that we brought it on ourselves, either by an unwise decision or by unwisely avoiding a decision that could have prevented it. The finger we point at God could easily be turned back toward us.

Not all hardship is our own fault. We face many trials that we did not cause. In any hardship, we should not embrace the attitude of many guilt-ridden individuals who, whenever something bad happens, assume they did something to deserve it. But we also shouldn’t be like the fools who rage at God for the ruin that resulted from their own folly. We have to own up to our decisions (and our indecisions), learn from them, ask God to teach us better ways and move forward in his grace. It’s called personal responsibility. And it produces wisdom.

Taken from Once a Day 31 Days of Wisdom