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Genesis 4:1-5: Cain’s appraisal.

“Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ But Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.  ⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ 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 rule over it.”  NIV UK

I remember a friend saying that if you cut yourself off from feedback you impoverish yourself. Potentially, you may be stunting your own growth. I recently heard a church leader say that it’s good to have someone speak into your life from a different perspective (even though it may not always be welcome!) His point was: ‘Where someone else sits affects what they see.’ If they sit somewhere other than where your chair is located, their vision can assist you. Well, Cain’s ‘appraisal’ did not go well. He turned down the opportunity to change.

What you do with truth you don’t want to hear reveals something of your character, and it will undoubtedly affect the course of your life.

Gordon McDonald has said that even in the most unjust criticism, there is usually a grain of truth we can learn from – if we are willing.

‘Cain’s true heart was revealed when the Lord rejected his offering. And how true this is of human nature! When people are affirming and praising us, it’s very easy to be nice. The test comes when we are criticised or rejected; how do we react then? How can we tell if a grape is ripe? We squeeze it, and we see if the juice is sweet or bitter. Cain was ‘’squeezed,’’ and out came bitterness.’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.139.

PRAYER: Lord, it’s not easy to be rebuked. You know I’d be lying if I said I liked it. But there are things I need to hear if I’m going to change and grow. Help me to be brave; enable me to be willing to receive helpful feedback. Teach me to be a life-long learner. I’ve never really liked taking medicine, but if that rather yucky stuff on the spoon is going to make me better, then I’m ready to swallow it. Lord Jesus, you know better than I do that I desperately need that which will keep me from sin and make me more holy.

Genesis 4:1-8: Keeping short accounts.

“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.  She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’ ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.  Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ But Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.  ⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ 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 rule over it.’  ⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’  While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”

At Christmas, I was given a daily calendar, with a Bible verse for each day of the year. The texts are taken from the ‘King James’ version of the Bible. Today’s happens to read: ‘’Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother’’ (Matthew 18:15)

It is important that we should ‘keep short accounts’ with one another. Don’t let resentment smoulder. It is likely that it will eventually erupt into a hot (and potentially destructive) flame. There are appropriate ways to nip things in the bud, to sort out differences early on. Cain’s way is not God’s way.

Anyway, his brother had done nothing wrong!

‘Satan is a serpent that deceives and a lion that devours (1 Peter 5:8-9). He used eve to tempt Adam and Cain to destroy Abel. The two ‘’seeds’’ of Genesis 3:15 came into conflict, for Cain was a child of the devil (1 John 3:10-12) while Abel was a child of God (Matt.23:35). Like his father, the devil, Cain was a liar and a murderer (1 John 8:44).’’ Warren Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.17.

Jesus warned about the danger of hatred in the heart (Matthew 5:21-26). It can be the first stirrings of murder. The famous story of Cain and Abel graphically illustrates this.

It is a good start in the right direction if you can begin to sincerely pray for those people who anger (and hurt?) you. Pray God’s blessing on them.

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, how we need your help. Help us to control anger, to love those who offend us, and to regularly practice forgiveness.

Genesis 4:6,7: Warning light.

^“6 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ 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 rule over it.’ ” NIV UK

Many years ago, I was proposing to go down a particular avenue. On the face of it, there was nothing particularly wrong with what I was doing. But I began to feel a deep uneasiness about it. I put it like this: it was as though a huge warning light came on. I could almost see it physically. I should have taken immediate note and got out of the situation. But I persisted for a time, and then began to understand why I was being ‘warned off’. It was too late, however, to avoid a lot of unnecessary pain.

When you are aware of God’s warnings, don’t resent them. Realise how much He loves you. Recognise He’s trying to protect you, and maybe others around you also.

I find God’s words to Cain quite striking. This was long before Jesus came; centuries before the outpouring of the Spirit. But He was essentially being told to resist sin, with the assumption that he could. He was also being warned about the precariousness of his situation. It’s a graphic picture: sin ‘’crouching’’ at the ‘’door’’, like a hungry, wild beast, waiting to pounce. But it could be tamed. (1 Peter 5:8,9) However, as someone observed, instead of resisting sin, Cain resisted God.

But if Cain could have overcome, you and I certainly can – in the power of the Holy Spirit.

PRAISE: ‘’But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’’ (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Genesis 4:1-5: Faith and works.

“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.  She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’ ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.  Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ But Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” NIV UK

Parents often comment how different their children are. They come from the same stock; they are raised in an identical home; but although they may share something of the family likeness, they are so unlike one another in very many ways. They can be ‘chalk and cheese’. You don’t necessarily have to be the parent to see this. It’s often obvious to others who know the family.

Any differences between Cain and Abel were not merely psychological or temperamental (or physical) but at the deepest level, they were spiritual. It is not clear from the Genesis account why God ‘’looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour’’ (4). It is sometimes suggested that it was because Abel brought an animal sacrifice for sins, whereas Cain didn’t. That may be the case, but the text does not explicitly say so. It seems clear to me that Cain brought something but Abel offered the best. But for the root answer we need to look elsewhere in the Bible:

‘’By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead’’ (Hebrews 11:4).

When God looked at Cain and Abel bringing their gifts, He saw what the human eye can’t. He saw the presence of faith in Abel’s heart, but there was not a trace of it in Cain. So Cain still speaks to us, long years after he was callously put into the ground. He talks to us about the importance of faith:

‘’And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him’’ (Hebrews 11:6).

He also shows us that ‘’In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’’ (2 Timothy 3:12).

One other thing from today’s reading. If God rebukes you; if He shows you you your fault, anger may be an initial response (5b). But you must not permit it to remain as your long term reaction. The Lord is not out to irritate you. In His love and mercy He is wanting to bring you to repentance and to save you from yourself – as the next reading will show.

PRAYER: Lord, it is so good of you to take the time to show me my faults. Help me to respond with gratitude, and a humble and contrite heart.

Genesis 4:1-2: Giving God the glory.

“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’ ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.  Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.” NIV UK

Selwyn Hughes told this story. At a certain meeting, he felt blessed by the playing of the pianist. Afterwards, he went over to him and thanked him. The musician averred, ‘It wasn’t me, it was the Lord!’ Replied Selwyn, ‘It wasn’t that good!!’

Clearly, false modesty is not fitting. It is unnecessary.Nevertheless there is an appropriate humility which should accompany us through our lives: ‘’For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…’’ (Romans 12:3).

Adam and Eve were very much involved in the conception of Cain (and Abel). Procreation is a very human activity. Nevertheless, Eve gave due honour to God. She recognised that God had helped her through the difficulties of labour (3:16), to bring a healthy boy into the world.

This speaks to us today. There are many things we have to do, and we do them. If we don’t do them, they don’t get done. But we need to always keep the perspective that apart from Jesus we can do nothing. He is the source of all fruitfulness. To God be all the glory.

PRAYER: Lord I do acknowledge that if anything good has come from my life, it is because of you. I ask, then, that all the praise should go to you.

Genesis 3:17- 24: God’s clothing store.

^“17 To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,”

²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve,because she would become the mother of all the living. ²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² 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 for ever.’ ²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side^[c] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” NIV UK

‘’The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them’’ (21).

Many years ago, there was a man attending a church where I was a pastor at the time. He worked for the tailor, ‘Austin Reed’. One Sunday, he quietly approached me after a service and said, ‘Please will you call in at the shop when you can. I have instructions from someone to measure you for two suits of clothing.’ So it was that I found myself walking around in fine clothing, by virtue of someone else’s generosity. He picked up the bill; I wore the free gift!  The ‘clothing’ we need is available from God’s clothing store. It comes to us free of charge, because Jesus has paid for us to have it.

It is often pointed out that this statement in Genesis must reflect the first animal sacrifice. Tom Hale writes about this helpfully:

‘…to make garments of skin required killing an animal; some consider this to be the first ‘sacrifice’ mentioned in the Bible. God killed an animal in order to ‘’cover’’ Adam and Eve’s nakedness and sin. Sin merits death, but God provided a ‘’substitute’’ to die in their place. This foreshadows the sacrificial system found later in the Old Testament, which in turn culminates in the final, perfect sacrifice of Christ – a sacrifice which doesn’t merely cover sin outwardly but also removes it inwardly (Hebrews 9:13-14; 10:11-14)…we humans, by our own efforts (fig leaves), cannot truly cover our sinfulness. Only God can provide the covering – the righteousness – we need; and He has provided that righteousness through Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14; Philippians 3:8-9)’ ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.138.

‘In response to their faith, God shed innocent blood and clothed them. The only way sinners can be saved is by faith in the shed blood of Christ (Heb.9:22; see also Isa.61:10; Eph.2:8-9)’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.17.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for your amazing generosity to me. May my whole life be a ‘thank you note’ to you.

Genesis 3:14-17: The Final result.

^“14 So the Lord God said to the snake, ‘Because you have done this,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,”

We saw yesterday that Adam and Eve engaged in a ‘passing the buck’ exercise. But the Lord God wouldn’t allow them to get away with it. In His words recorded here, he showed that Adam and Eve both carried responsibility for what had happened, and they would have to bear the consequences. But He started with the serpent. Adam and Eve sinned and were held responsible. But there would not have been any sin apart from temptation; and there would not have been temptation but for the Tempter. God turned His fire on him first of all.  In verse 15 there is a remarkable early prophecy of what was to take place at the cross. It is often referred to as the ‘protoevangelion’ – the first announcing of the good news. The final score was being read this early on in the game. The outcome was not in doubt – even back then. Yes, there would be intervening years of spiritual conflict, but the Messiah come and would be victorious.

Genesis 3:11-13: Passing the buck.

¹¹ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’ ¹² The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The snake deceived me, and I ate.’ NIV

I’m writing this piece in a corner of a café, in Leeds General Hospital. I’m waiting for my wife, Jilly, as she undergoes an endoscopy procedure this morning. As I observe people around me, I wonder why they are here. What are their fears? What are their ailments? What will be the outcome of their tests? And so on.

When I visit a hospital – something I do all too often – I am astounded to see how rife sickness is in this world. Every single day (even the day after Boxing Day!) these places are busy, busy. I am deeply grateful that we have good hospitals with professional, caring staff. Many of them are over-stretched and under-compensated, but still they are to be found at their posts, with cheery smiles and willing hands. Thank God for them.

But this morning I am struck by the thought that the illness, pain, and concern I see around me had their origin in the garden of Eden, in the sin of Adam and Eve. But for them, I wouldn’t be here. No-one would. We have sickness in the world (and pain and death) because we have sin in the world.

Here’s another thing which can be traced back to the garden and our first parents: this terrible tendency to pass the buck. Someone said, ‘Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on!’

The world would be a better place if more people were prepared to hold up their hands and say, ‘Yes, blame me. I’m at fault. I take full responsibility for what has happened. I’m not pointing the finger at anyone else. I’m the man! Look no further. I’m the culprit. I’m the one you want. I’m turning myself in.

Ironically, this is the beginning of healing and restoration to God. The way back begins with repentance: confessing, and forsaking sin. To ‘confess’ means ‘to speak the same thing’. It is to agree with God that you are a sinner and you have sinned in precisely the ways He has said. You’re not wriggling and squirming, but you are honestly facing up to what you have done. The grace of God means we can be so honest, because He has provided Jesus to die in our place. We know we can confess without fear of fine, imprisonment or execution, because Jesus has born our punishment. For mankind, confession is the way out of the cell and into freedom.

PRAYER: Thank you most merciful God, that there is a way back home to you – a way you have made at such cost to yourself. Thank you with all my heart.

Genesis 3:8-10: Sin separates

^“8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ ¹⁰ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ “ NIV UK

One of the consequences of sin – in fact one of the most profound consequences – is that it separates people from God (Isaiah 52:1).

There is such a beautiful picture painted here of ‘’the LORD God…walking in the garden in the cool of the day…’’ (8). It speaks of God’s closeness and accessibility: His desire for human companionship, friendship and fellowship. But sin ruined all that. It brought shame and fear into the relationship from man’s side.

Realising the lost connection with heaven people attempt to solve the problem in their own ways. We sew together the ‘’fig leaves’’ of religiosity and good deeds, to try to cover our sin and guilt. But it doesn’t work. What we need is not a righteousness of our own making, but the clothing in that righteousness which is God’s gift (21). It comes through faith in Jesus (Romans 1:17; Romans 3:8,9).

‘God does not wait for Adam to find his own way back, but hastens in search of him.’ F.B.Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.16.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord. You came to where we were to lift us to where you are.