When You’re Guilty of Harm

Deuteronomy 22:8 When you build a new house, you must build a wall around your roof. Then you will not be guilty for the death of a person who falls from the house.

In most countries, occupational health and safety (or OH&S, as it’s called) is a big deal. And rightly so, because in places where it isn’t, some terrible things end up happening to the workers.

The 1993 Kader Toy Factory fire in Bangkok is still considered to be the worst industrial fire in history. What began as a small blaze on the first floor quickly turned to tragedy through poor building design and inadequate fire escapes. 188 people died and over 500 were seriously injured.

We shake our heads. That’s terrible! How could those factory owners have allowed that? I hope they went to jail!

The underlying principle here is that we have a responsibility to be proactive in caring for others; we’re meant to think ahead to avert harm. And despite the fact that it’s taken a long time for OH&S to catch on, this isn’t a new concept.

Deuteronomy 22:8 When you build a new house, you must build a wall around your roof. Then you will not be guilty for the death of a person who falls from the house.

Can I ask you, in your day-to-day life, how much do you think ahead to protect others? Maybe not from falling off a roof, but from harm, from abuse, from conflict, from any number of things that could hurt them.

What could you do to help your work colleague whose mistake is about to draw the ire of management? How could you step in to help a friend avert a major conflict in their marriage?

God’s principle here? If we see something that could harm others yet do nothing about it, we’re culpable; we’re guilty of the harm that comes to them.

That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.