My punishment is too great to bear
By Paul Cochrane | September 22, 2011
My punishment is too great to bear.You have driven me this day from the face of the land; and from Your presence I shall be hidden… So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod.
~Genesis 4:13-16
The sad story of an insolent rebel. That’s what this is. Cain’s anger has boiled over into murder, but when confronted he’s not even remorseful, much less repentant. Instead:
1. Cain accuses God of being unjust. That’s right. The murderer (the one who’s still alive) says his punishment is too harsh. “You’re making me work uncooperative soil for the rest of my life because I killed my brother? How unfair is that!?!” Is it any different today? Almost universally, offenders judge their own offenses minor and their punishments too severe.
2. Cain puts words in God’s mouth: “from Your presence I shall be hidden.” But God never said this–Cain did. Have you ever noticed how people bolster their case against God by holding Him responsible for things He never said or did? It’s an important part of establishing themselves as victims.
3. Cain walks away from God. But not because he had to. God didn’t write Cain off. It was Cain who made the choice to leave. Cain is the one who said, “I’m outta here.” Cain is the one who “settled” away from the presence of the Lord, rather than admit his guilt and repent.
I hate to say it, friend, but the seeds of Cain’s rebellion are eager to germinate in your life, too. All they need is a little watering.
Maybe you’re encountering consequences from your sinful actions and you’re tempted to decry the punishment as too harsh or unjust. Why not bend the knee in repentance, instead? Lord, against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge. (Psalm 51:4)
Perhaps you’re having some heated conversations with God about things He’s done or allowed. Take a careful look at what You’re upset with Him about. It’s possible you’re blaming Him for things He never did.
Things may be to the point where you’re tempted to walk away from God because He’s “done you wrong” or been “unjustly severe” with you. Be extremely careful! Grave consequences are ahead if you do. Cain never came back. Don’t risk it.
Blessings,
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The way of Cain brings Death
By Paul Cochrane | September 15, 2011
The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face downcast? If you do right, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
~ Genesis 3:6,7
From the 3rd human till now, not much has changed, has it?
1. We go out in defiance and do things our own way. (Cain’s offering was not as God had prescribed.)
2. We expect everything to be fine. (But everything was not fine–Cain encountered God’s displeasure!)
3. When things go wrong, it makes us mad! (The Hebrew word indicates he was burning with anger.)
Common sense would say, “Hey, why not go back and redo it the right way rather than sit there and stew about it?” That’s how we’d appeal to a toddler, isn’t it? “Look, why are you having this tantrum? Pick up your toys first–like I told you–and then you can have a cookie.”
And that’s exactly how God appealed to Cain. “Cain, it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to burn in anger and be all dejected. Just do what’s right (bring the right kind of offering) and you’ll be accepted. See?”
But sin blinds a person to common sense. Instead, like Cain:
4. We refuse God’s entreaty and storm out in protest.
5. We boil and stew and stoke the fires of resentment…
6. Till we snap. And the result is deadly.
Oh, we might not spill blood literally, but we’ll plunge the dagger of hateful words deep into another… or slit his throat with sarcasm, or shred her with scorn and disgust…Many are the ways we kill.
But it doesn’t have to end so hideously. When God warns us, as He did Cain, how do we respond?
What we need is a soft heart when the Lord confronts us about sin. It’s not our natural bent. I regularly ask God for this:
Lord, when You confront me I am unlikely to respond the right way. So I’m asking You now for special mercies then… don’t let me harden my heart against You. Please don’t listen to my rebellious words… but grant extra grace instead. In Your kindness lead me to repentance, even if I am stubborn and resistant.
A prayer like that might serve you well, too. For the way of Cain brings death.
Blessings,
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Cain and Abel
By Paul Cochrane | September 9, 2011
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
-Genesis 4:3-5
At first blush, God’s response to Cain and Abel regarding their offerings appears whimsical or capricious: This one I like… that one I don’t… Most alarming, it’s not just the offerings but it’s the men themselves for whom He had regard or no regard.
Is there a basis, then, by which God approved or disapproved of these men and their offerings?
Here are some of the best responses I’ve come across to that question. See what you think.
* Hebrews 11:4 tells us, “by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain.” God saw their hearts and knew their motives. Only Abel came in faith (did Cain come begrudgingly or out of duty?), and this accounts for their different treatment.
* The brothers came to worship with different attitudes and this was reflected in the quality of their gifts. Cain brought only “some produce of the land.” Abel offered the choicest animals from his flock–”firstlings” and “their fat portions” and that’s why God had regard for him.
* Based on Genesis 3:21, we assume God had already taught the principle of “substitutionary death” and directed them to bring an animal sacrifice. Cain’s heart was rebellious (alluded to in Jude 1:11-13) and evil (see 1 John 3:12), and he stubbornly decided to bring his own kind of offering. This is why God had no regard for Cain or his offering.
* In 4:6-7 God both urges Cain to do right and warns him against continuing wrong-doing. A capricious God would not engage in conciliatory dialogue with an angry Cain about doing right and not doing wrong. Further, God’s tone and wording (“Why are you angry…? If you do well…”) seem to indicate that Cain had known the right thing to do with regard to his offering but chose to do otherwise. Sadly, defiant Cain refused this warning, too. (Is this a pattern for him?) Even when confronted with Abel’s murder he gives no indication of repentance.
No, God is not whimsical or capricious. Far from it!As we see here, “The Lord God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; showing lovingkindness to thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:6-7).
Have mercy on me, O Lord. For I am too often guilty of stubbornly doing my own thing my own way rather than carefully following Your directives. Be gracious to me, Father, for I regularly give You less than the best of what I have to offer. Pour out Your compassions on me, O God, when I fail to come to You with a humble and contrite heart. Be merciful to me, Lord Jesus, by the blood of Your Perfect Sacrifice. For, “nothing in my hand I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling.”
Blessings,
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8.31.11
By Paul Cochrane | September 9, 2011
And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” – Genesis 3:22
Consider the Lord’s compassion in preventing fallen man from living forever.
What if every Al Capone, Jesse James, and Adolf Hitler were still alive and unchecked in his pursuit of evil? And by now how proficient would the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah be in perfecting perversion?
Yet the Lord’s greater compassion isn’t just curbing runaway evil. It’s in allowing death to come.
What do I mean by that!?
Follow the progression with me:
- Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- The consequence, God had warned, was, “…you will surely die.”
- By their act of disobedience they died immediately–spiritually. For the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).
- They were now “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1).
- In mercy God delayed their physical death, giving them time to repent of their sin, for upon death “comes the judgment” (Heb 9:27).
- After a while He allowed their bodies to die. It was a compassionate halt to their misery from disease, defect, and decline.
- At the right time Christ came to “taste death for everyone,” conquer death by His resurrection, and offer forgiveness and eternal life (Heb 2:9).
- Adam, Eve, and all the “dead in Christ” willsoon be raised imperishable and immortal (1 Cor 15:50-57) when the “first things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
- Thus, for those who are “alive in Christ,” physical death becomes God’s compassionate, necessary gateway for “making all things new” (Rev 21:5).
- And that’s one of the reasons why the Apostle Paul says, “to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).
Thank You, Lord, for not allowing us to live forever in the cesspool of our sin. Even though we must cross through this valley of death, we recognize it is part of Your kind plan to bring us to the New Day when there will no longer be any death, mourning, crying, or pain. Amen!
Blessings,
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Toil and Sweat
By Paul Cochrane | August 26, 2011
Imagine:
* summer gardening in South Carolina without shirt-drenching sweat.
* cultivating, planting, and reaping a crop without exhaustion or a sense of toil.
Of course, I’m thinking of those two words in Genesis 3:17-19: toil and sweat. Sin’s consequence is not work, but the toilsomeness of it—that immense degree of effort required to extract a crop. And toil’s companions are bone-wearying exhaustion and sweat! What would it have been like to cultivate a garden without toil and sweat? Apparently it was not like this before sin.
But now that it is this way, what is the purpose of toil and sweat? Someone commented that the sufferings and hardships of this fallen life are messengers of God by which He “partly invites us to repentance, partly instructs us in humility, and partly renders us more cautious and more attentive in guarding against the allurements of sin for the future.”* What a thought—that even our toil and sweat can be beneficial!
Coming at sweat and toil from another angle, I found myself thinking of One whose love caused Him to enter our world and learn first-hand of sweat and toil in the hot and dusty carpenter’s shop. Yet He went beyond this tosweat great drops of blood as He labored—yea toiled—in prayer on the eve of the cross. “Is there no other way, Father? None? Not my will, then, but Yours.”
Every grace to you, friend, as you look for the immense love of our Savior and the good purposes of God in our sweat and toil.
Blessings,
* Genesis, John Calvin
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