We come now to the next generation after Adam and Eve and here the narrator is interested in one thing only: their interactions with God. Cain and Abel are given the same choice that their parents were given: Will they trust and obey God, or will they rebel against him? Abel responds well by bringing the first and best of his yield to God. This is an important gesture which is not matched by Cain’s half-hearted offering. Importantly, however, Cain is shown grace. He is not rejected, only corrected. Again, the key question is, how will he respond to God? There were two voices, it seems, speaking to Cain. The voice of God enjoining him to “do what is right” and the voice of “sin” crouching at his “door”. The voice Cain heeded would be the voice that ruled his life. If he heeded God’s command, he would rule over sin. If he did not, then sin would rule over him. And what ruled over him would rule over his household for generations to come. God is giving you the same choice he gave to Cain. No matter how many bad choices you have made, you have, through Christ, the opportunity to begin again. In fact, the whole meaning of this short life we are given is this: to respond to God. Every situation is an arena for this choice. In every circumstance there is no more important question than this: How are you responding to God? Whose voice are you heeding?
Respond to God as Joshua did: “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Read Genesis 4:1-16, Deuteronomy 30:11-20 and Joshua 24:14-15
