Genesis 4:6-7–The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7  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.”

I am sure there have been times where you have been angry, and the issue is not what someone did, but we are angry at the outcome of our own effort.  But the good thing about being angry at ourselves is that we have taken responsibility.  Which gives us the opportunity to confess and repent about our lax effort!

This is exactly what Cain should have done with his own heart and attitude towards his offering to God.  God wonders why Cain is angry, when he knows his own offering was not from a whole heart of faith and love towards God.  The audacity to be mad at God blessing his brother Abel’s offering when he could’ve done the same thing!  But because Cain refused to take responsibility for his own heart towards God, he lived in denial, anger, and bitter jealousy towards his brother…

Denial of responsibility before God leads to growing unchecked sin, and negatively effects how we deal with others.  This is why God warned Cain to take responsibility and “do well”, which means to search his own heart towards God, and repent of his attitude of worship.  But Cain would go on in his pride and not take responsibility for his own heart, and took his anger out on his brother and killed him…

The sad thing that always strikes me in this story is the denial of Cain never really examining why his offering was not accepted. To go so far as to hate his brother enough to kill him, all because of how wrong he saw his own heart and the situation.  It shows us that we can be passionately wrong, all because we were never passionately honest and responsible before God.

In His Love, Ld