DCLM Daily Manna 20 February 2024

TOPIC: Pass No Buck

TEXT: GENESIS 3:1-13 
3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

² And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

³ But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

⁵ For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

⁸ And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

⁹ And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

¹⁰ And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

¹¹ And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

¹² And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

¹³ And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

KEY VERSE
“And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat”
(GENESIS 3:12).

DCLM Daily Manna 20 February 2024 MESSAGE

On the desk of President Harry Truman of the United States between the mid-1940s and early 1950s was a painted glass sign with the inscription, “The Buck Stops Here.” He adopted it as a motto to guide him to take responsibility for decisions without shifting the blame for the consequences. Later, in his farewell address to the American people in January 1953, Truman said that when a leader had the responsibility to own up to wrongdoing, “He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can make the decisions for him. That’s his job.”

Adam and his wife failed this defining candour test and were exposed for breaking God’s law. People lose their essence and personality when they try to disconnect themselves from the unpleasant effects of their deeds. Not admitting to the works of your own hands when they go awry reveals you as a person of low character unfit to be trusted. God punished Adam and Eve for ‘passing the buck’ and trying to blame Him for their sin.

READ Daily Manna Monday 19 February 2024 – Always Interceding

We cause lasting disastrous harm when we attempt to run away from the outcome of decisions we take out of our own volition. First, those around such characters would be hesitant to enter into any relationships with them, fearing they might throw their partners under the bus over freely taken resolutions. Also, it denies pardon from a God who desires sincere confession of sin as a condition for forgiveness.

Refusing to acknowledge our shortcomings when confronted with reality aggravates the situation as it did with Adam and Eve. But we can avoid further peril if we ask the Lord for power to overcome iniquity in the first place so that we do not fall into the easy temptation of passing the buck after the deed.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Search not for a fault elsewhere when it is with you.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JUDGES 8-10