Rearranging the Furniture

This blog is designed to give people an inner look at a devotional life. Taking time each day to spend time with the Lord. The hope is if you travel on this journey with Rev. Jacob Shaw, you may be more inclined to spend time with the Lord as well. I encourage the use of a devotional, a scripture reading and prayer, then finally some form of artistic mark to tie it all together. 

Today's devotional is taken from: Zacharias, Ravi. The Logic of God: 52 Christian Essentials for the Heart and Mind. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019. [E-Book] Chapter 29: Rearranging the Furniture

Opening Thought: The story of Cain and Abel, found in Genesis, keeps finding its way to my attention this month. I can honestly say that I have not sought out the story, but it just seems to return to the forefront of my attention again and again. I find this is often how God will speak to me, if there is something I am to understand or focus on, God will repeatedly put it in my path. The story of Cain and Abel is not necessarily the story you want in your path because it dives into one of the darkest realities about humanity, there is a capacity within us to do great harm, deadly harm, to our brothers and sisters. So, my mind is wondering, why this story is being presented to me this month, what may I have to face that this is relevant?

Regardless of what could be the reason, the story has come across my path yet again, and this time our author Zacharias is challenging us to think about why Cain killed Abel and what it means for us as the generations which followed that horrible exchange. We will look at the passage in a moment, but the question is, if Cain can come to the point of murder, how was that possible? How does the action or contemplation of the action of murder exist within us as created beings made in the image of God?   

The devotional begins with: Genesis 4:3-7

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So, Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, it will bring lifting. But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Second Thought: There are many things happening in this story, first we need to bear in mind that this is all happening because of Adam and Eve, the parents of Cain and Abel, brought a pattern of choosing self-will over God’s will. By disobeying the commands of God to not eat the fruit, they sought after something that was beyond their capacity to handle (the knowledge of Good and Evil), in the story of Cain and Abel we see this evil becoming known more and more. Each child is working to bring forth resources to survive, Abel looking over the flocks and Cain over the crops. When they brought offerings to the Lord, God took favor with Abel’s offering but not Cain's. There does not seem to be a reason given to why God saw favor over one verse the other, I could, as other have postulate a reason, but I don’t think God’s motives are the issue here. Rather, it is more important to consider the response in Cain. His response is anger. Now God tries to warn Cain to be mindful of what he is feeling, but Cain in anger, strikes down his brother. In this murder a few things happen, Cain acts out in anger, he robs Abel of his life, he also attacks the image of God which is in Abel while tarnishing the image within himself as well, he dishonors God warning, and Cain displays, in a way, the idea that in Cain's understanding that God and Abel had acted with injustice, thus elevating Cain subjective reasoning over God's eternal reason. No wonder the passage reads that sin waits, crouching at the door and desires to have us. Because Cain did not take the time to move beyond the impulse of his anger and seek God for help with his pain, rather sin took Cain.

So, in two generations we have seen two major events of sins take place, the first sin of taking-on the authority of God for ourselves (Adam and Eve) and then Cain elevates his authority over God’s wisdom and as a result slays his brother, resulting in even more sinful and evil things to unfold.

When we put our own wants, desires, and impulses in the driver set of our actions what we are really doing is making ourselves into the authority of our lives rather than God. Each time we do this we ultimately set in motion for opportunity of sin to sit and wait for us. Adam and Eve’s situation bred Cain and Abel’s situation, and Cain sin begets more.

I have gone on long enough about this, but if you want to hear more on this issue between Cain and Abel, one of the times this story popped into my line of sight was when someone recommended a video of Jordan B. Peterson and Catholic Bishop Barron, where at one point, they touch the story of Cain and Abel. I have put the link here is you would be interested in hearing more.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVrLqpt0APo

We must be willing to look at ourselves in the shoes of the people in history and in scripture who made the wrong choices. It is not that we believe we would kill our brother per se, but it is that we too have that same inclination to put ourselves, our reasoning, and our will before God’s. In extreme cases of emotion like anger, frustration,  and even love, that inability to see past our own perception is what does lead to all sorts of sins, including death.

Continual Work: Read the first five chapters of Genesis and think about yourself in the position of all the wrong decisions? Be humble enough to know that you could make the same mistake. This will teach forgiveness when those in your life make similar mistakes and it teaches responsibility because you practice ownership for your human dispositions. With these two lessons we begin to learn how to better avoid sin and shut the door in its face.

What Rev. Jacob is Working On: It can be difficult to spend so much time reflecting on faith and know whether I am serving God, or myself. I debate about this often as I fear becoming lost in my own motives rather than what God offers in Christ Jesus, the Scriptures and in His Kingdom. I don’t think any disciple can do it perfectly, but it is always better to be cautious.

Prayer for your day: Glory to You of God, Your wisdom is like a beacon, and our minds can be like storms clouding our sight. We seek Your Holy Spirit to put wind into our sails and bring us to Your light. Where we can find the gift of Christ waiting upon the shore. In Jesus’ name we prayer, Amen.

Artistic Close: Look at this image below and think about the anger and hatred that took over the will and heart of Cain, how can we not as people of faith seek everything we can to avoid anything thing like this from happening, even the thought to cause harm throws shade on our souls.

Cain and Abel (1886) by Odilon Redon. Original from The MET museum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.