The problem started when it was time to give God an offering. God had specific rules about that, and Cain offered the wrong kind of offering. He got jealous of his brother Abel because God was pleased with Abel's offering, but not his. Verses 5-7 say..
"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, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.'"
God was giving Cain this chance to do right from that point on. Cain did mess up, but God was more focused on teaching him something through it than on punshing him. But Cain didn't listen. He was so consumed with jealousy that he killed Abel. God punished him for that, but I don't think it's because he killed Abel. I think it's because he lied about it. God asked Cain what happened to Abel, and Cain pretended like he didn't know. I think if he had just been honest about it, God would have responded completely differently. But I'll come back to that.
Here are the reasons why I feel like Cain isn't so different from us.
The first thing I noticed was that Cain took a sacrifice to God. If he didn't care about God, he wouldn't have even done that. Some part of Cain had to be concerned with pleasing God, or he wouldn't have even bothered with the offering. Part of Cain must have loved God. He was just really lazy about it, and didn't show enough of a commitment.
There was one other thing that really caught my attention. Once God punished Cain for the murder, what he said is what really got me thinking. Verses 13-14 say...
"Cain said to the LORD , 'My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.'"
Cain was so distraught about this punishment. He said it was more than he could bear. If he was just a no good murdering pagan, he wouldn't have cared about being separated from God. But it overwhelmed him!
So here's what I'm thinking. Cain cared enough about pleasing God to make an offering, and he cared enough about God to feel miserable after he learned that God's presence would no longer be with him. I could really see myself in Cain. I care about pleasing God. That is something I really really desire. But I know there have been plenty of times that I have been lazy about it, and God has been like "Allison, you could have put more effort into doing what I said, but don't be that angry or upset about it. Just remember that sin is always crouching at your door...try to do the right thing next time..." just like He did for Cain. And if God were to punish me the way He did Cain, I could not go on living. Even though I sin sometimes, the thought of God not being part of my life is more than I can bear. There is no way I could handle that.
Seeing characteristics of Cain in myself was really not fun. I don't want to have anything in common with a cursed murderer that disappointed God. But here is what can be the difference between Cain and us. When God confronts us with some kind of sin in our lives...we should just be honest about it. God's response toward our honest confessions will never be to curse us and leave us like it was to Cain. I think that is the important lesson to learn from Cain. "Don't murder" is a pretty good concept, but after I read Genesis 4 the last time, I came away with this new view of Cain and my relationship with God.
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