Men or Mice?

I've been getting a little distracted lately. I started getting back into this in order to write about marriage and marriage issues, and instead i have ended up doing a commentary on Genesis. I apologize. There are a couple of more things i want to touch on here then i need to get out of Genesis. It's turning into a crutch.

God drew Adam & Eve out of hiding after their eating of the fruit. He confronted them about their actions. So who does God confront first? He confronts Adam of course. Adam was the last one involved in the scheme, but he is the first one on whom responsibility is placed. It's interesting here because God asked Adam where he was and Adam's response was an honest response. "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself." Oh that we would give honest responses to the people who asked us questions. That has to be one of the most difficult things to do. Honesty is so important in our lives, and yet so few people are. What's even more interesting to me is how few people can handle it when other people are truly honest with them. Anyways, back on task...

So God confronted Adam on the sin. Adam's reaction, like most men it seems, was to blame Eve (keep in mind, the blame game is a 2 way street). It was not unjustifiable. Eve did bring the fruit to Adam to eat, but the point is that instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Adam passed the blame to his wife. Eve in turn passed the blame to the serpent. So neither really took responsibility for their own actions. He blamed her, she blamed it, no one took responsibility.

On the flip-side, one of the least noticed / most ignored facets of this situation is that when God called out in the Garden Adam was the one to answer. He is the one who responded to the confrontation by God. In part, he did take the responsibility. That must have been one of the most difficult things to do. When a child is confronted by their parents many times it is extremely difficult to get a straight answer. How much more difficult to face the confrontation of the creator and God of the universe. Yet there he is taking the responsibility and dealing with the issue. When everything was falling apart, Adam passed the blame, but in the process he also told the truth and stood in the gap. He faced the issue and dealt with it.
So tell me. How does this reflect in your / my life. Are we being honest about our problems, or are we passing the buck? Are we, as men, taking responsibility or passing the blame? Are we standing or cowering? Are we being who we are called to be, or passing off our responsibilities and role to the one who was created to be a helpmate. Are we being men, or hiding away like mice?

Image from Mathieu Struck used under cc license.