As the curtain goes up in Genesis 4, we discover that it did not take very long for the effects of sin to show up and start causing heartache for humanity. We look on and watch as sin distances our first family, not just from God, but also from each other. Sin fractures community.
In just a few verses, we see how insidious and damaging sin is. Cain was disappointed, then he was jealous, then he was angry, and that anger led him to murder. For many of us, this is a familiar Bible story, maybe a little too familiar. I wonder if, in our haste to grab the “moral” from this narrative (anger is bad!) we miss an incredible picture of the relentless mercy of God.
Look carefully at verses 6 & 7. Can you see how God patiently and tenderly seeks to reason with Cain? He doesn’t bash Cain verbally; he doesn’t detail the list of commandments Cain is thinking about breaking. Instead, God gently asks him three questions in an attempt to get Cain to step back and reflect on his emotions and repent of the sin he is contemplating.
Cain had a choice: he could humble himself before God, and confess his sin, seeking to open himself to God and become right in God’s eyes, or he could choose to indulge in what he wanted to do, with no thought to God or consequences. He chose poorly.
How will we choose? During this Lenten season, let us choose the path that Cain refused. Let us respond to God’s tender mercy towards us by creating space to open ourselves up to God through reflection and repentance. Doing so will go a long way towards helping us master whatever sin may be “crouching at our door.”
In just a few verses, we see how insidious and damaging sin is. Cain was disappointed, then he was jealous, then he was angry, and that anger led him to murder. For many of us, this is a familiar Bible story, maybe a little too familiar. I wonder if, in our haste to grab the “moral” from this narrative (anger is bad!) we miss an incredible picture of the relentless mercy of God.
Look carefully at verses 6 & 7. Can you see how God patiently and tenderly seeks to reason with Cain? He doesn’t bash Cain verbally; he doesn’t detail the list of commandments Cain is thinking about breaking. Instead, God gently asks him three questions in an attempt to get Cain to step back and reflect on his emotions and repent of the sin he is contemplating.
Cain had a choice: he could humble himself before God, and confess his sin, seeking to open himself to God and become right in God’s eyes, or he could choose to indulge in what he wanted to do, with no thought to God or consequences. He chose poorly.
How will we choose? During this Lenten season, let us choose the path that Cain refused. Let us respond to God’s tender mercy towards us by creating space to open ourselves up to God through reflection and repentance. Doing so will go a long way towards helping us master whatever sin may be “crouching at our door.”
Ken Jackson
It was amazed to me when God said to him in verse 15 "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be take on him sevenfold". And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him. God loves Cain even though he was committed murder to his brother. I think this is something that I could never understand the deep of God's love to mankind.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the sins of the father... Look at the end of the chapter and check out the Lamech story: Another killer in the family who did not repent and felt self righteous about it, demanding God's protection. Our call is to confess our own sins but also to pray God's grace to break generational sin that is carried from one gene pool to the next. Are the generations that follow ours going to carry on our Heavenly Father's resemblance or our sinful one? Is the legacy we leave going to reflect what we preach?
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to figure out where the wives came from. Genesis only mentions Cain, Abel and Seth as children of Adam and Eve. It also says that Eve would be the mother of all the living. So apparently they had many other children who were not important enough to mention, and their children married each other?
ReplyDeleteHad to be sisters.
ReplyDelete