Thursday, February 23, 2012

Thurs.’s Devo - Cain and Abel


Read Gen. 4:1-9

I have studied this over the years and came up with many conclusions - none of which I am certain of. I’ll share one possibility. It says that “Adam knew Eve” once, but she brought forth 2 sons. I don’t know if they were twins or not but I think she might have carried them together. They were complete opposites. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. They both brought a sacrifice to God from their toil. Cain brought what he farmed, but Abel brought a first-fruit of his toil which included blood. I think both of these were important to God. When Adam and Eve sinned, God killed one of the first-fruits of his creation and made a blood sacrifice to cover their sin. From this they were to learn what would cover sin. While Cain’s was a gift, God always sees the heart and God saw something in Cain’s heart that made him not pleased with his offering. Maybe Cain brought God fruit that wasn’t good to eat. I don’t know, but, God had no respect for Cain’s offering and he did for Abel’s. We see further into Cain’s heart with his conversation with God. God asked him why he was so upset, because if he had done what was right, God would have accepted him. If he doesn’t obey God, then sin is waiting to devour him. When he gives into that desire to sin, it will overtake him. Sure enough, that is what happened. One day Cain and Abel were out in the field talking and Cain killed Abel out of jealousy. The Lord immediately spoke to Cain. He asked him where Abel was. God was giving Cain the opportunity to repent but Cain exposed the evil in his heart. He tried to cover what he did with a lie. You can’t lie to an All-Knowing, All-Seeing God. Tomorrow we will see the consequence of that deed.

Lord, thank you for exposing our sins to us and giving us the chance to repent. May we choose to humble ourselves and repent.

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