Cain

 I’m always intrigued when a New Testament author references someone from the Old Testament. Why that person in particular? What made them special? What made them stand out? What can be gleaned from their life within the context of the text? All these questions get my gears grinding because understanding the individual, who they were, what they did, and how they interacted with God paints a vivid picture of what the author was trying to convey.

You can’t help but be curious as to why Jude picked Cain as one of his negative examples, along with Balaam and Korah. Within the context of the text, it wasn’t so much about the obvious, but rather Cain’s attitude toward God, correction, and other things rather than the fratricide he perpetrated that Jude was pointing to. What is the way of Cain, and how can we avoid it?

Unless you are a babe in Christ, you know the story of Cain, him being the first naturally born human after God created Adam and Eve. Cain was the first and oldest of Adam and Eve’s progeny, and after Cain came Abel, his brother, the second human to be naturally born on this earth.

While Cain took to farming and tilling the soil, his brother Abel took to keeping the sheep and being a herdsman. The world’s oldest profession isn’t what many think after all. It turns out it’s farming, tilling the soil, planting seed, and watching it grow.

Everything seemed fine until the two brothers brought an offering before the Lord, Cain of the fruit of the ground, and Abel of the firstborn of his flock. One offering was pleasing to the Lord and accepted; the other was not.

It is God’s prerogative which offering He accepts and which He rejects, which offering He finds pleasing and which offering He does not. Some surmise that Cain’s offering was rejected due to the absence of blood. Each brought the first fruit of what they had, and since you can’t get blood out of a turnip, I don’t know how well that theory stands up to scrutiny.

As is often the case, it’s not so much what the offering consists of but rather the attitude with which it is proffered. God did not need Abel’s sheep or Cain’s fruit, but one came before the Lord in the right spirit, with the right attitude, while the other went through the motions, hoping God would be satisfied and he could go on about his day.

Between those who approach God out of a sense of duty and those who come to Him out of love, those who approach Him out of love will have greater intimacy with Him. God knows if you want to be in His presence, spend time with Him, fellowship with Him, and learn from Him.

Since his heart wasn’t in it, God’s rejection of his offering shouldn’t have negatively affected Cain, but it did. He grew exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell. There’s a difference between just wanting some fire insurance and hungering after God. If you desire God, He will reveal Himself to you. If you just want some benefit or other that God can provide without getting to know Him, then don’t be surprised if your experience with Him is lackluster.

There’s an adage that you get out of something what you put into it, and it applies to one’s relationship and maturing in God as well. If we spend no time in His presence, if we have no desire to get to know Him, yet expect a fully fleshed-out, mature, and satisfying relationship with Him, our disappointment will know no bounds.

The way of Cain begins with the seeds of bitterness and jealousy. Once they are allowed to take root, the harvest they produce is naught but pain and misery.

Genesis 4:6-7, “So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

God saw it coming from a mile away. If God saw it coming, why didn’t He stop Cain? He warned Cain to be sure, telling him that sin lies at the door of his heart and that he should rule over it, yet God did not stop Cain from committing murder.

The long and short of it is that God created man with free agency. You can choose the way of light or the way of darkness, the way of hope or that of despair, the way of peace or that of chaos. You have the wherewithal to rule over the sin that lies at the door of your heart, just as Cain did. The key to it is to not let the evil in. Don’t give it a comfortable ecosystem where it can take root and blossom. Bar the door, double lock it, and stack some furniture in front of it. Do what you must to keep the sin at the door and not let it inside.

God’s counsel went in one ear and out the other. Consider for a moment that Cain was hearing the audible voice of God. The creator of the universe, the God that breathed life into his parents, was now speaking to Cain, warning him to rule over the sin at the door of his heart, and his answer was to rise up against his brother Abel and kill him in a field.

What horrid things men do in service to their sin once they let it into their hearts. There is no end to the cruelty, no limit to the perversion, and no finality to the downward spiral; once sin rules the hearts of men, the light of God is nowhere in sight.

Sin’s desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Be its master, not its slave. The surest way to ensure this is the case is for the Spirit of God to be a perpetual indwelling presence in your heart. Sin has no room to enter where the Spirit of God resides. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.