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.” (Gen 4:6-7)
The greatest war in the world is not yet to come or gone by. It remains and rages on. Indeed, the biggest fights are not between siblings or enemies or countries or ethnic groups – the biggest of them all is that within our hearts.
We wrestle every day with one desire or another, with the next need or want or craving. Our minds are restlessly making decisions or avoiding them. Honestly, many of us do not win half of our battles and things go awry and not our way.
In this chapter, sibling rivalry was quiet intense to the point of murder. But God had assessed the situation for Cain and told him exactly what was going on, how to overcome and avoid the terrible the result of his bitterness and jealousy. He did not listen. He killed his brother.
Maybe in wrestling within yourself – about your desires, ambitions and feelings – you haven’t yet resorted to killing a man. But what about your own soul? James says, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
Pause and think on this. Desires lead to sin and that brings death. How many of your desires are sinless? You may carry them out or keep them in your heart, but needless to say, your heart and mind are brewing and storing sinful desires that are accumulating into DEATH. This is not only physical death, but also spiritual death, eternal separation from God!
So when you think on this story, especially Gen 4:6-7, God speaks that word to each of us daily. Sin wants to overcome us unto death but we must master it! The only way we can do that is by God’s power and grace offered through faith in His Son Jesus. And then immerse yourself daily in His word to learn to discern and choose what is good (Heb 5:11-14). I urge you to take this devotional journey with me through the bible, one chapter at a time so that we may be equipped to resist and overcome sin.
New Westminster Chapel 