TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE
Please read Genesis 4:3–14
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Genesis 4:7
DEVOTIONAL
by Sandra Chua
When I don’t feel like cooking, it will surely show in the dish that I’ve prepared. My family would promptly and innocently comment, and more often than not, I’d snap back. Whose fault was it? The passage shows us if I had done my job well, I wouldn’t have received bad comments. Sure enough, my reaction showed sin, leaping at the opportunity as I growled at my family.
Cain, as implied in verse 4, knew what was expected of him but, for some reason, did not do what he had to do. When God was not pleased with what he offered, he sulked and fell into a bad mood. Despite God’s warning for him to watch out, the next verse shows us that instead of making amends and perhaps bringing the required offering, he turned his anger towards his brother. Maybe he was jealous of why the Lord accepted Abel’s offering and not his. Maybe he thought that if Abel was dead, God would just accept his offering even if it was not according to God’s requirements. Whatever the reason, he allowed sin to get him.
Of course, God did not let Cain go unpunished. He cursed the ground, which had already been cursed in the first place since Adam’s time, and added that as a punishment. He will become a wanderer. Cain surprisingly complained about his punishment. It was too much punishment, according to him. All this punishment could have been avoided had Cain done what he should in the first place.
Let us do our best to obey and follow God’s decrees. A lot of heartache, pain, and consequences can be avoided when we do well. Jeremiah 5:25 says sin deprives us of good.
REFLECTION
How well do I do things expected of me? How well do I listen to instructions so that I can do my part well? How can I guard myself from sin who is crouching at the door waiting for me to fall?
PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus, in whatever I do, help me work at them with all my heart as working for You, not for men. Protect me against sin who is crouching at the door. You have set me free from the bonds of sin; let me not be a willing party for it to enslave me again and again, in Jesus’ name, amen.
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