Posts Tagged: Genesis 4:7

“SIN CROUCHING AT THE DOOR”

On January 2, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

 “1 Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!”

2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground.

3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD.

4 Abel also brought a gift– the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift,

5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

6 “Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?

7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.”  (Genesis 4:1-8 New Living Translation)

 

Genesis 4:7 brought me up short this morning.  I was especially struck by the part of the verse that says, “But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.”

Wait a minute!  Isn’t sin precisely refusing to do what is right?  Yet this verse seems to make a distinction between the two. Why?

And then the obvious answer hit me like a mighty tidal wave: I have no idea!

Not much of an answer, is it?

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that there is something here that I need to take very seriously: Even if “not doing the right thing” and “sin” are somewhat separate, they are nevertheless very closely related.  Unless we—unless I—am doing the right thing, sin lies at the door, ready to pounce.

We are not told explicitly what Cain was doing wrong.  There is a hint that perhaps he wasn’t giving his best to God by way of sacrifice.  Abel brought the fat of his firstborn animals (vs.4).  Cain just brought “some of the produce of the ground” (vs. 3).  But, the Bible doesn’t really tell us that this is the reason why God accepted Abel and his sacrifice, and why God did not accept Cain and his sacrifice.  An implication is just that: an implication.  It is not a slam dunk.

Personally, I think that it is brilliant that the Scripture doesn’t tell us precisely what Cain’s problem was.  If the Scripture were that specific, we could probably say, “Oh, well, that’s not my problem!”  The ambiguity of the story draws us into it, and invites us to ask uncomfortable, important questions about our own selves.

In any case, we know this much: Sin did indeed pounce on Cain.  Cain went out the door and into the field, and there, he murdered his brother.

My sponsor often reminds me to JKDTNRT.              That stands for “Just Keep Doing The Next Right Thing!”  If I am not keeping on doing the next right thing, doing the wrong thing lies right next to whatever door I go out of or come into.  If I’m not doing the right thing, I am for sure preparing to do the wrong thing.

 

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