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,
0 Comments