This year I’ll be reading the entire Bible. I say ‘reading’ but what I mean is ‘listening’ due to a quirky little programme on my iPhone. So, before I go to sleep I’ll be listening to a man with a deeper voice than Gandalf read to me. (That sounds a little bit weird but I can assure you it’s already the highlight of my days.) So far I’m just passed the story of the first families in Genesis.
I’m not going to boast, but I have read it before. I know what happens, when it happens and how it’s going to happen. However, the Bible has a unique ability to draw your attention to certain teachings which are stunningly apt for you at specific times.
I highlighted three big hitters and will be unpacking them over the next three weeks. The first lesson I was reminded of was at the heart of the tragic story of Cain and Abel.
Both brothers worked hard for God. Both brothers knew God was God. Both brothers made sacrifices to God.
However, Cain’s attitude was rotting inside his heart like a carcass abandoned in the wastelands. The thing that strikes me about Cain’s attitude also scares me. It scares me because I see this attitude in my own life and the life of many men around me. It’s the attitude that says: “I know”.
It’s the man who has every answer sewn up in his mouth before the other person has even stopped talking. It’s the man with a solid exterior and a glaze behind his eyes. It’s the man who always needs first mention and the last word. It’s the man who will not humble himself, yet speaks a lot about his weaknesses.
And yet God gave Cain a phenomenal opportunity to change things around. However, you can see in the short account below how Cain’s attitude was impenetrable.
Genesis 4:2-9
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And 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, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
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 rule over it.”
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.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
I prayed three prayers on day one of this year. The first was a result of reading the story of Cain and Abel.
My prayer was this: “Father, I have seen so much of Cain’s attitude in my own life, and in the lives of men around me. I want to be like Abel. Help me follow you closely, and point others to you.”
Peace.