We concluded last week knowing God hearing us say “I did it” is not the confession God wants us to give Him.  God does also not want us to explain our actions to Him.  We rationalize our actions, our actions seemed necessary at least in our version of the events.  What we did can take on many forms; we stole, lied, coveted, and lusted.   This list does not often include the word “or” but includes the word “and”.  We have done it all.  In our rationalization we can see the benefits, we weren’t going to get what we needed through the normal channels so we had to take the situation into our own hands.

Cain saw this.  His brother had done the right thing and that made Cain feel bad, so he simply eliminated the competition.

Genesis 4:4-7 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.  Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  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.”

Cain could have fixed his situation but he chose another solution. God knows the situation Cain is in, God knows how close Cain is to doing something which cannot be fixed.  God even knows Cain will indeed do it.  But God still warns him.  And as God warns him God is warning us, also.

Sin is crouching at our door; sin desires to have us also, but we must rule over it.

We must realize the meaning to the fact sin is crouching at our door.  A lion does his crouching when he is approaching his prey, he is concealing his position.  The lion must crouch, if the lion were to walk up to the prey, the prey would recognize the danger and run off.  We are that prey, it is not a lion that is approaching us but sin.  If we could see all of the consequences of our actions we would remove ourselves from danger.  But wouldn’t sin just follow us?

Where are we safe from sin, it is crouching at our door and desires to have us.

Sin is relentless if sin cannot have us by one approach, sin will become a chameleon that will resemble whatever situation that will draw us in to its lair.  And there we will become captive.  The sin will entangle us with lies and deceit until it is devouring us, consuming us.

Where are we safe?  We are only safe in one place.  We are safe in the loving arms of God, these are not arms that hold us captive but these are the arms that set us free.

We have been captive by sin and the adversary has been blocking the door with accusation after accusation.  And we have to admit they are all true.

God’s loving arms are always extended towards us.  We can do no act that will cause God to close His arms and turn His back on us.  God shows us that with Cain (and more importantly with Jesus on the Cross).

Genesis 4:8-9 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.  Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”  “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Remember Abel was the one who brought the offering to God that was found with favor.  Cain lies, he knows where Abel is, the image has not faded from his mind but he lies.  The truth is not hidden from God and Cain is aware of this.  We lie, if we are not saying the lie to someone else, we say it to ourselves.

God is still looking for the confession.  God wants us to agree with Him.  God doesn’t want us to go “You were right and I was wrong”.  He wants us to agree with Him. We can only grow from our mistakes if we learn the new direction to go.

God wants us to agree with him, acknowledging the sin before us is not good.  That the sin will not take us where we truly want to be.  The sin will draw and pull us from our only safe place, God’s arms.  When we agree with God we are acknowledging the situation for its true nature and desiring to establish the position we want with God.  We must agree with God with our whole heart, we can hold nothing back. We will go through life with sin crouching at our door minute by minute.  As long as we desire to stay within God’s embrace we are safe.

We will continue with establishing what this position means next week.

Written by Joyce E Poggensee

Verses referenced: Genesis 4