May 22, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“So, Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city at that time. He named it after his son Enoch.” (Genesis 4.16-17)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Most everyone knows the story of Cain and Abel. It is a tragedy born out of the oft replayed misunderstanding of sacrificial living. Because Cain did not understand the value of the blood sacrifice. Cain could have easily considered, I suppose, that his work in the field as a very successful farmer was the evidence of his “tears, sweat and blood.” He worked the fields as did his father, Adam. Adam worked the fields, as you remember, as a witness and testimony of his accountability to God for the failure to steward and shepherd the command given to him. That command was simple. In fact, the command could have been just about anything, I suppose. I am not as confident that God made the command simply because it was said to be “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” The very act of trust or disobedience opened the door to the journey that imparts such wisdom as the application of knowledge. If the “act” was the “fruit,” then it may well speak to us of the admonition against works righteousness over against the encouragement of doing works born out of righteousness. Adam, and thus by decision and gifting- Cain, found their righteous works in tilling the soil and planting the seed and cultivating the crops and harvesting the fruit of their labors. However, I fear that Adam must have been lack in sharing the understanding of how he was even able to do such work when without God’s grace he would have returned to the dust from which he came. I say this only because Cain did not understand why God “favored” Abel’s gifts drawn from his work in animal husbandry and not his own. It is because of that lack of understanding, willingly or unwillingly, that led to the second death recorded in Genesis. I suppose I could say the third recognizing the loss of Eden to Adam and Eve a kind of death; in truth it would have been the first. Because of that “death,” God sacrificed a lamb, or two, and took their skins to make coverings for Adam and Eve. He covered what was their “shame.” God did not consider it shameful or else He would either not have created them in that image, or He would have covered them from the beginning. It was only after they disobeyed God and saw themselves differently from each other, all other creatures and most importantly different from God that they felt “shame.” I believe it is because now they saw themselves more subjectively than objectively. Such a skewed viewpoint is at the root of why Cain could not understand why Abel’s sacrifice was more favored. Abel understood the shame and the blessing of grace and gave it sacrificially. Cain provided the work of his hands, too, but not as a sacrifice. He offered it as an obligation or expectation of duty and work as if it would “gain him a favor,” or more likely an advantage. It did not!

Fortunately for Cain, God was his advantage. Even in his heinous crime of murder out of jealousy, spiritual jealousy no less, God had not and did not forsake Cain. Many have and will argue “Why didn’t God protect Abel?” And I would say simply that in the grand picture of God’s grace, Abel was protected in a covenant of blood and favor to live with God forever. Such would be a similar thought for all such other situations. We cannot outguess God nor understand completely anything more than God respects here and now and longs for the eternal future for all those who dare to become “the people of God” and not simply to exist as God’s people. God remembered Cain. God knew what had happened as surely as He knew the situation of Adam and Eve and the Serpent. He grieved that instead of seeking understanding, Cain operated by a false assumption. He grieves for us today in that same way. We must remember that there has only always been “one way, one truth, one life” which leads to eternal rest and peace with God on earth and in Heaven. That part of God’s story, our His-story, is the same yesterday and today and forever. God not only remembered Cain, He protected him as well. Cain gained an understanding of God’s mercy and grace. Sadly it came with the spilling of blood, his brother’s blood which called to God from the ground. In verse 11, the theme of “called out” continues. Now Cain will be called out of the abundance of the ground which was his to till and draw life as Adam his father. Cain would begin a new lineage with a new calling. If his wife came from a people in the world and not those of Adam and Eve (how many years later and after how many children would Cain have married a sister or niece), then Cain would become a witness to another nation. His story would, could, help to bring the truth to the world who had never heard it before. He would have been an evangelist more than in the way Adam and Eve were in showing so great a love as they could now share because God had spared their lives.

He has spared ours, too. Are we sharing the story, telling the glory and make disciples of all nations? It is a work of righteousness as ancient of days as our predecessors from the beginning.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.