If you leave your house one day, and notice some animal crouching outside your door, what would you do? If it is a small, harmless critter, you might feed it, possibly even take it into your house. However, if it is dangerous you will want to do whatever you can to get it away. You don’t want anything dangerous and harmful around. It’s good to be warned, as such things left crouching near us are never good. Our Scripture today tells of someone who did not heed such a warning, and what it led to. Let’s take a look at the narrative of this person from the Book of Genesis.
As our Scripture opens, we read of the birth of Cain, and then his brother Abel. The Lord tells us that Abel tended sheep while Cain grew crops, both respectable jobs (vs. 1-2). Then one day the two brothers bring an offering to the Lord. Abel brought the firstborn of his flock, while Cain brought some fruit and/or vegetables. As we read, God accepted Abel’s offering, but not that of Cain’s (vs. 3-5).
The Scripture here doesn’t tell us specifically why God accepted the one but not the other, but there had to be a reason. We do have a few clues, though. In the Book of Hebrews we read that Abel offered his offering in faith, which Cain did not (Hebrews 11:4). Everything we bring to God must be done through faith. Another reason could possibly be that Abel offered the firstborn of his flock. He offered his best. Cain, though, just brought whatever he gathered. The Scripture does not say that he picked and brought anything special, that he looked over and brought the choicest and best-looking fruit or vegetables. It is possible that his basket contained bruised, withered, and otherwise fruit that was less than the best.
A third reason could be depending on what type of offering this was. If this was a sin offering, then it needed the shedding of blood for it to be accepted. Scripture teaches that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). If it was a sin offering, then Cain would have needed to trade some of his crops to Abel for one from his flocks.
Whatever the reason, Cain knew of it and instead of telling God he was sorry and would do better next time, Cain just got angry and sullen (vs. 5-6). God told him that if he did well, he would be accepted, but he needed to be alert for sin, which was crouching at his door. Sin wanted dominance, but God said he could rule over it if he wanted and tried (vs. 7). The word “lies” in verse 7 in Hebrew is “rabas”, which suggests an animal which is hunting, crouching as he closes in on its prey, ready to pounce on it. That is a great picture of what sin is like, ready to pounce on us, overpower us, and bring us down. Rather than heed God’s warning, though, Cain let his anger boil over into a murderous rage, and shortly afterwards he killed his brother (vs. 8).
Uncontrolled and lingering anger is sin. We must master it, otherwise it will rule over us, leading to serious consequences just as with Cain. Sin is a contaminate, like a biohazard, that needs to be kept away and removed before it destroys us. Sin is a grave and dangerous enemy. In life we have a choice - to do or not to do what is right. When we choose to do what is right we choose life and master sin. When we choose to do what is wrong, we open the door to sin, which leads to disaster.
Just like Cain did, we love to make excuses (vs. 9-15). We love to blame others - our parents, teachers, leaders. We cry “injustice”, and never feel sorry for those we have hurt, but only for ourselves. We demand things we don’t deserve, just as Cain did to God. Cain was totally self-focused, while God was gracious. He gave Cain every opportunity to repent. However, Cain was so full of himself, that instead of confessing his sin and seeing the pain that he caused, he complained that things were unfair for him!
In closing we read that God asked Cain where his brother was, though He knew all along what had happened to Abel. Cain dared to give God a very sassy, smart-aleck response, and asked Him a question back (vs. 9). He asks God if he is his brother’s keeper. He implies that he is not, that he is not responsible to watch over, keep track of, or care for his brother. The answer, though, is Yes! We are our brother’s keeper. In a world of danger, we are called to watch out for others. Just as Adam was to care for the garden, Cain was to care for Abel. Throughout the Bible God tells us that we are to keep watch over the vulnerable, and care for the needy. Unlike Cain, we need to be on the lookout for sin crouching at our door, and we need to care for our brothers and sisters in this world.
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