Yesterday morning and this morning, God directed me to re-read in Genesis SLOWLY! Like many people, I know most of the stories in that book but I often overlook the truths that God wants to reveal.
With that said, my attention has been on the story of Cain and Abel. I never really understood why God liked Abel's offering better than Cain's. So, I have been studying it. Here's the scripture from Genesis 4:
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
Now, I read in several commentaries and it is generally believed that no one really knows why Abel's sacrifice was better than Cain's. From the scripture we can guess that maybe Cain was just going through the motions of offering time as he presented "some of his crops" as opposed to the best of his crops whereas Abel is noted to bring "the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock". Ultimately though, the Lord sees the heart and after all, that is really what he is after, our hearts.
1 Samuel 15:22 says: But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
My guess is, then, that Cain was not acting in obedience to whatever God called him to do. And when God asks him about his anger problem in the next verse and encourages him to turn away from sin, we see in the following verses that he doesn't heed the Lord then, either. So, ultimately then, it wasn't really about Cain's offering vs. Abel's offering but rather their OBEDIENCE and SUBMISSION!
As the Lord admonishes Cain he says this,
Genesis 4:6 “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out!
IF YOU DO WHAT IS RIGHT = OBEDIENCE
The last thing I noticed is in verse 7:
Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
For so many years of my life, I lived with sin controlling me and my every move. Yes, often I was unaware, but sin was my master. I would do the things I didn't want to do but I felt I had no control over how to make it stop. Yes, sin is eager to control us but God gives us the key...YOU and I must subdue it and be its master!
James 4:7 says: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Most, if not all, of us "resisting the devil", is done in THE BATTLEFIELD OF OUR MINDS! I used to think any old thing that came in my head. I would ponder the thoughts and the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of sin!
2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to "take EVERY thought CAPTIVE and make it OBEDIENT to Christ!" Every means EVERY..it also means EACH EXCLUDING NONE!!!!
Breaking all of that down, submitting ourselves to God equals walking in obedience. Resisting the devil means taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ. And he will flee from you means exactly that! The enemy will flee! Praise the Lord!
God, I thank you for this greater revelation of the story of Cain and Abel! I thank you for leading and guiding me and my friends into ALL truth! I pray that you would enable us to walk in obedience and submission to you! I pray that you, Holy Spirit, would help us to recognize our thoughts and would help us to take EVERY thought captive and make it obedient to Christ! And I thank you Lord for the promise that when we submit to you and when we resist the devil, he will flee!
No comments:
Post a Comment