Crouching At Your Door

Thanks to the encouragement of my family in Wilkes, I am going to be doing a year-long read through the Bible.  I’m going to be following a chronological Bible put together by F. LaGard Smith called The Daily Bible.  I’m really excited to do this reading! In order to help keep myself up to date with it, and also to encourage myself to not only read, but to study and reflect upon what I read, I’m going to be adding something to my readings. Each day that I read I’m going to post something to my Twitter page about what I read.  I will also link to something at the end of each tweet.  It may be an article of some sort (as was the case with Day 1) or it may be an audio file like a sermon or lecture, or it might be a devotional thought of my own added here.  And that latter option is the one I will be taking hold of today.  So without further ado …

Bible Reading Day 2: Gen. 4-5

Crouching At The Door

Today’s reading holds to me a very meaningful passage of Scripture.  Obviously all passages are meaningful, but this one always seems to hit home to me personally.  It is found in Gen. 4:6-7 – “The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 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 for you, but you must rule over it.” (ESV)

I love these verses so much! For one, they come directly from God.  Not through a prophet or an inspired writer, but directly from God to Cain.  That’s not to say those other means are not significant, it’s just to say – this is something recorded as direct communication with man, and I tend to think that is something special!  But above that, it is something that I think hits directly at the heart of all man, not just Cain.

As a little background to the story, Cain is upset because God is paying attention to Abel’s sacrifice, but is disregarding his own.  Now it might seem at first that God’s regard is in relation to the type of offering – Abel is offering the life of the sheep (certainly a shadow of things to come, even this early in the story), while Cain is simply offering plants.  But it seems there is more to the story here, because of the emphasis not on the type of sacrifice (the life of the animal), but rather on the quality of the sacrifice – Abel does not simply offer of his flock, but offers the firstborn and even their fat portions.  In other words, Abel is offering the best he has to God!  He’s holding nothing back!

So when God comes to Cain, he isn’t saying that he needs to offer something different; he’s actually making a higher calling!  God is telling Cain he needs to give the very best, to be fully, unconditionally dedicated to bringing his best to his Creator!  But the calling comes with a warning.  If Cain will do this, God will approve,  but if Cain will not, sin is crouching at the door (1 Pet. 5:8 anyone?).  I think that word should really strike us – “crouching.”  Sin isn’t just waiting at the door, like someone who just rang the doorbell, patiently waiting for you.  It makes me think of Calvin and Hobbes – Hobbes always waiting at the door for Calvin to arrive home, and promptly greeting him with a high speed mauling as soon as he opens the door.  Sin is crouching – it is plotting, preparing to attack and to rule your life.  It is fully prepared to take control and make you its slave!  But, God says, “you must rule over it.”

There are two thoughts that come to me from this statement of God.  For one, there is a part that man must play in overcoming sin.  It would seem very odd indeed for God to tell Cain to rule over sin despite knowing full well that Cain were completely and utterly incapable of doing so.  However, it should be noted that unlike Cain, Christians today can take joy in a relationship through Jesus Christ, and thus enjoy the work of the Spirit in their life.  Notice the words of Philippians 2:12-13 – “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  Certainly, there is a degree to which we must be active in serving God and ruling over sin, but we must never forget the important part – that it is God’s work in us that empowers us!  We are not alone!  So often we can lose sight of this idea – for Christians we have God on our side, fighting for us and with us.  For the Christian, God works in us, not only helping us complete his will, but even giving us the will to do it!

Now Cain might have been able to seek out this help too.  I don’t know how Cain reacted to this reply from God, but given the character we see described of Cain, one could surmise that he didn’t say much of anything, simply continuing on in his negative attitude, blaming everyone but himself for his troubles.  But I think it is fairly evident that he didn’t do one thing – he did not say to God, “please, help me to do this! I do not want sin to rule over me, and I need your help!”  Instead, he did the opposite.  He freely allowed sin to rule in his life, and in so doing, became a murderer, and was dealt harsh consequences for this decision.

May we never fall into this trap!  May those who put on the name of Christ never be given to same error of Cain.  And may we never been fooled into thinking that sin no longer crouches at our door.  It is always there, waiting to pounce – but through the grace of Christ, and the power of God working in us, we will be victors through Him!

Grace and peace!

Les