We must have an open heart to trust God.  We may feel we don’t need to trust God.  We can do it on our own, in fact, there are many times we take it one step farther we can do it for God.   There are a number of reasons our heart can be open but not trusting God, we will look at only one today.   Our human nature wants to trust ourselves, we see this from the beginning of time. This desire goes back to Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Genesis 3:6  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Eve’s understanding was to not eat the fruit, but she just wanted to better herself.  We can want that also, we can tell ourselves we want to better ourselves so we can serve God better.   We can tell ourselves if we figure things out for ourselves we will be more presentable to God.  When Eve and then Adam took this approach it did not end well for them, when we take this approach it does not end well for us either.

Genesis 3:27 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

We can blame other people, Adam blamed Eve.  Adam not only blames Eve for giving him the fruit he also reminds God and blames God for putting Eve there with him.

Genesis 3:12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

This approach continues into the next generation and also today.

Genesis 4:4-5  And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Cain was the firstborn, he had position in life, and he could figure things out on his own.  He knew what his offering should have been but he thought he could improve upon the idea.

Genesis 4:7 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.”

When God is talking to Cain about sin crouching at his door there is still hope for Cain. But Cain does not accept God’s warning instead of doing what was right he just eliminated the competition.

Gen 4:8 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.

It was not Abel’s fault that Cain did not bring an acceptable offering yet Cain killed him for it anyway.  Cain blamed  Abel for making him look bad.   But Cain’s actions were not without consequence.

Genesis 4:11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

This is only the fourth chapter of the Holy Bible.  It was in Genesis 3, Eve and Adam tried to figure things out for themselves.  Cain did not learn from their sin, and too often we have not learned from it either.

We are still trying things our own way, or blaming others whether it is family or friends.  We also at times blame God, God wanted to reveal the truth but we were ignoring Him.

God has not only made Himself available He is present in our life. God is our Creator and we were created for a purpose, we cannot figure this out alone.  We need help and God wants to be active in our lives.   But there is a difference between God following us around, as we go about our activities, as to when we intentionally sit down to spend time with God.  God wants a relationship with you and when you take the time He is delighted.  You can simply sit with an open heart, as you open the pages of the Holy Bible and invite Him: Lord, Come, sit with me for a while and tell me about Yourself!

Written by Joyce E Poggensee

Verses referenced: Genesis 3 Genesis 4