Monday, June 9, 2008

God Knows How We Are!

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Genesis 4:9-16

God is now calling Cain to account for the murder of his brother. What is Cain's reaction when God asks the question of Abel's whereabouts? Cain denies any knowledge or responsibility for knowing where his brother is! I really have a difficult time understanding how it is that Cain believes this answer will do. Doesn't he understand that God really knows all about it anyway? Maybe he doesn't, and just believes if he denies his sin, he will somehow get by with it. I look at this attitude with astonishment...until I realize I do much the same thing.

I struggle with sin, sometimes particular sins, on a daily basis. However, there are those times when I ignore my sin in the vain hope that it will simply go away. Or I fail in my struggle at some point in a day, and I tell myself that the failure is 'natural', and because I am a 'sinner' it is 'understandable.' Thus I try to justify or 'get by' with my sin in the presence of a holy God. This is even more foolish than Cain, for I have knowledge of God that Cain did not, the knowledge of a grace-filled and forgiving God who also asks for purity. Out of nothing more than sheer love and gratefulness I should never fall into Cain's trap of denial. Yet it does happen, though I hope more seldom than in the past.

Lord, help me to live face-front and open to You.

Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor,
LEE