When the Problem Is You

Today I read in the book of Isaiah the command to do away with the pointing finger and the malicious talk. 

I've been thinking so much about my own pointing finger this week. I like to blame others for the way I feel. I often consider how I'm being let down. This is an absolutely horrible way to live.

What if I remember that the only real problem (insofar as I cannot control anything except my response to my circumstances) is me. 

I put my pointing finger away and read the rest of Isaiah 58:

If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.

If I'm busy spending myself on the needs of others, I'm too gloriously busy to point a finger at somebody. I'm too involved in God's work to think or speak maliciously.

Yes, I put away the pointing finger today.