June 15, 2023

Able was the good son, and Cain was jealous because God loved his offering of meat and fat more than Cain’s. It made him very angry. But God warned him before he did anything drastic to take control of his sin, but instead of listening to God, he let it overcome him by killing Able. There are a lot of lessons in this portion of the text. One interesting note is that God could hear the cry of Abel’s blood from the ground where Cain spilled it. Can you imagine all the blood that cries from the ground of the innocent lives taken? The sound must be deafening. His punishment was that he could no longer grow anything, was sent away to wander the earth, and could no longer walk with God. Even though God punished Cain, he still protected him. He marked him so that if anyone killed him, they would receive a punishment sevenfold. Hmm, I wonder what his mark was. Even when you sin, God still cares about you. You may have to face the consequences of your actions, but all is not lost. Though Cain was a murderer, he had a good son, Enoch, whom we will find out further in scripture that he loved God and never died. So there is hope for those who feel they have less-than-ideal parents; overcoming your ancestral faults’s up to you. 

My takeaway is: God likes an offering that comes from the heart; it is up to you to control your sin; blood has a sound; your punishment from God can be severe, but he still loves you; good people can still come from bad parents.

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:7 ESV