God’s warning to Cain here is one to meditate on.

Genesis 4: 3-12

³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted?^[b] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to^[c] you, but you must rule over it.” ⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother.^[d] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² 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.”

Genesis 4 implies that there was something different in Cain’s offering than Abel’s. Abel offered the first of the flock and fat, which means he gave God the best of what he had. But it does not say anything special about what Cain offered. It was not just an offering that pleased God but an offering of the best. God had regard for Abel, and this made Cain angry. At this point, God warned Cain that since he did not do well, sin was crouching at his door and that he must rule over it. But Cain failed, and sin won, and Cain murdered his brother.

The part that stood out to me was that it says that when we do not do well, sin crouches at our door. The word crouching here implies that sin is there waiting but hidden. When we do not give, our best sin is crouching at our door, ready to pounce on us. When we choose not to do our best for people, when we choose not to do good, we end up down that path that leads to doing wrong. This was hidden for me. I would never think it would lead to sin when I choose not to do my best. But for us, it is not hidden if we want to know. God is showing us that we can rule over sin and choose better.

This is such a heavy warning, one that needs much pondering. So I leave it with you. Read it, meditate and pray about it; hopefully, this helps us all choose well.

I wish you a most wonderful new year filled with the word of God.