Date: July 19, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 6, No. 10
“Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”” (Gen 4:6-7NIV)
Why did Cain end up killing his brother, Abel? It was because he failed to listen to God’s warning. As the account goes, after God had rejected his offering, he got terribly angry with his brother. But was he supposed to be angry with his brother?
No! Was his brother the one that rejected his offering? No! Or was his brother the one that kept him from living right before God, so that his offering would be acceptable? No! Nevertheless, Cain held his brother responsible for his own failure to get God’s approval. In like manner, we have many today who hold people who have absolutely nothing to do with their failure, stagnation or poverty in life responsible for it.
So, instead for them to examine their lives careful in order to see what they are missing or getting wrong, all they will be busy doing is considering how the progress of others is affecting their own progress.
I remember how I once had to sound a friend and colleague of mine out along this line. She and a number of others in my office had been terribly upset that very day with certain colleagues of ours that were handling their jobs anyhow. And I did not see anything wrong with that. It is proper for any of us to be upset with those we are working together, if they are slowing us down or messing up our work.
However, this friend of mine went beyond being upset that day to expressing her bitterness by saying, “We get to do all the work. And these ones that are messing up get to take all the money.
Yet they don’t have better papers than we do.” So, I had to immediately stop her from fuelling her bitterness by drawing her attention to the fact those so-called slothful colleagues of ours were not the reason she was not being highly paid by the company. Granted, those people may be slothful. But their slothfulness had nothing to do with her low wages. It was her choice to accept that job, even though the pay was low – nobody forced her to take it. So, holding those people responsible for her low pay was totally out of line. And if she did not quickly get rid of that idea, she would soon enough be filled with bitterness against them, something that may drive her to do something that would ruin them and her as well.
Now that was what happened to Cain. Because he held his brother responsible for God’s rejection of his offering, hatred for him began to fill his heart. So, God had to immediately step in and warn him. Why would God do that? God just rejected his offering. Yet He came to warn him. That means He did not reject his offering because He did not love him. Rather, He rejected it because He wanted him to see that he was not living right and needed to repent.
Otherwise, his entire life would end up being a waste.So, the fact that God has sent a word of rebuke to you about anything wrong that you are doing does not mean that He hates you. Rather, it means that He loves you and does not want you to continue to do what will destroy you or to keep on following a path that will end in ruins and regret. As the bible tells us, it is those that God loves that He rebukes; it is those that He accepts as His own that He disciplines. So, if He is continually setting you right, consider yourself precious to Him. (Cf. Heb 12:5-6)
Unfortunately, Cain did not see the love of God for him in the rejection of his offering. Also, he did not see it in the warning that came to him to guard his heart against all the evil thoughts that were coming to him. So, he ended up murdering his own brother, the very one he was supposed to protect. And that, of course, brought God’s judgment on him. (Cf. Gen 4:8-16)
What is the point of this? It is that if we do not watch the kinds of thoughts we permit in our hearts and master them or take them captive, we may end up holding the wrong people responsible for the failure, shame or stagnation our lives are experiencing. Or we may end up seeking happiness, satisfaction or peace of mind in wrong relationships or activities. And where this is the case, we may end up destroying the very people we are meant to protect. (Cf. 2Cor 10:5)
Look at Amnon, the first son of David, also. Because he would not master his thoughts, he began to seek enjoyment and sexual satisfaction from his own blood sister. So, he ended up raping her, a sister that he was supposed to be protecting from rapists. And that took away not just the throne of Israel from him but also his life. (Cf. 2Sam 13)
So, if you have been tolerating or nursing evil thoughts in your hearts, you may just be preparing yourself to harm those you are supposed to love, cherish and protect. And the word of God is coming to you now to warn you, saying, “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”