Abba Moses said, “In all trials and troubles that afflict you never point at others in blame, but be still in your heart. Say only this to yourself, ‘It is because of my sins that this has happened.’ "
Abba Moses seems to be saying, “Regardless of who’s to blame for the bad stuff that happens to you, when bad times come, shut your mouth, take the blame on yourself, and say, ‘this happened as a punishment for my sins.’ ” He seems to be saying that, but he’s not.
Sometimes bad things happen to me directly as a result of bad or stupid or thoughtless things that I’ve done. If I scream and shout at my spouse, and she sets my hair on fire the next time I fall asleep, it may very well be the law of cause and effect coming into play. If I leave the water running in the bathtub, intending to take a bath, but then go the movies, it’s a certainty I’ll return to see water running under the front door. If I forget to make my car payment to the Fast and Easy Credit Company, it’s safe to assume the fact that my car is not in the driveway one morning is related to the forgotten payment.
Sometimes, though, bad things happen when I intend—and perhaps even carry through with—virtuous or kindly acts. A beggar asks for money and when I stop to give him some from my wallet, he grabs it and runs away. I go to visit a sick friend in the hospital and a four-ton crate of syringes falls from the roof and smashes my car to bits.
Abba Moses says, “never point at others in blame, but be still in your heart.”
His words aren’t intended as Words to the Stupid, but counsels for the wise. When he says never point at others in blame, he’s not unaware bad things may indeed happen to us because of the actions of other people. Abba Moses is telling us regardless of the person “at fault,” God is to blame.
“Be still in your heart.” The thing that has happened is sent to you by God, and the purpose is the training of your soul. In times of trial, many people, struggling to make sense of hardships, say “I’m supposed to ‘learn’ something from this.” Well, sort of. It’s not so much that God wants us to ‘learn’ a Mystic Cosmic Lesson as it is He wants to form our souls as His companions.
The Lord Christ was hauled before a night-time court for a midnight trial on trumped-up charges. The Scribes and Teachers of the Law who presided over the session broke Jewish Law by the bushel-load to condemn Him. He knew it. They knew it. And “as a Lamb before is shearers, He opened not His mouth.” He cast no blame, pointed no fingers. He took the crimes of His accusers on His own back and carried them with Him to the Cross. He made our sins, and theirs, His own.
That’s what Abba Moses has in mind. In times of trial and trouble, he says, follow in the footsteps of Him Who carries all the trials and troubles of the world. We can embrace life’s afflictions and transfigure them (they’ll come anyway), or we can blame everybody in sight, whine and moan like spoiled children, and redemption passes over our heads, unnoticed.
The life of the Spirit is a life of temptation, trial and sorrow. It’s also a life of growth, joy and peace, in the fellowship of the Saints and the friendship of God. In one of the most wondrously shrouded but profoundly insightful statements in all his writings, St Paul says, “I rejoice in my sufferings, as I make up in myself what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.”
Here is the heart of Christian life: for us to share our life with Christ and for Christ to share His life with us. When suffering comes, not only, Abba Moses says, are we to bear it manfully. We take it to ourselves as the Lord Jesus did. Don’t look to blame, don’t start to whine. In the secret prayers of your heart and the Common Prayer of the Church, lay it before God. He will take the pain and bless it.
If you are game, He’ll give it back. Nobody said this would be easy. It’s Glory He’s out to form in us.
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