Great Expectations

Today's passage:  Genesis 4
     I wonder what kind of man Cain was before he killed his brother?  It is obvious he was a very hard worker. This was after the fall, after the Garden of Eden, so the fruits and vegetables no longer grew without labor.  Cain put in the work.  He dug up the hard ground, he seeded, he watered, he harvested.  This was backbreaking work, as any farmer could attest.  This was day in and day out toiling in the field.  I don't know if Cain was assigned to this task by his parents, if his God-given skills naturally suited this kind of work, or if he just enjoyed agriculture and took it upon himself to learn how to coax the soil to do his bidding, but he achieved results.  Some might argue that Abel had the significantly easier job.  As the younger brother, maybe this was just the obvious task he could accomplish in their younger days, and incidentally kept that job while Cain kept the fields.  I'm not sure how it all transpired, but I think perhaps if I had been Cain, and I slaved away every day as he had, my nose might be put out of joint too when God did not accept my offering.
     The whole reason God would not have accepted my offering though, would have been because it was my work, not His.  My work will never be enough to satisfy Him.  My works will never purchase peace and pardon with Him, no matter how well it was done.  Abel couldn't really brag about how well he had kept the sheep, because honestly, there wasn't much to it, was there?  You feed them, you herd them, you make sure they have good shelter and you keep them safe.  I'm not saying shepherding was nothing work, but compared to farming?  I'm thinking Cain might not have minded exchanging jobs on occasion.  So when Abel offered up one of the livestock that he tended, it wasn't really a picture of how hard he had worked.  It was the offering that God required.  It may be true that Cain's produce would have been accepted if he had only offered God his best, but he wanted to give God the leftovers.  I'm still not certain God would have accepted anything but a living sacrifice.  I don't know that fruits and veggies would suffice.  I know later, God asks for different types of offerings, and loaves and other things other than animals were brought before Him, but in this instance, I think only the flock would satisfy. 

     So what should Cain have done?  Should he go to Abel and ask him to supply a sacrifice for him as well?  Would Abel have been willing to do this?  I don't know if their relationship was close or contentious. I know that Cain was a proud man.  The Bible says, "And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell."  How could God accept Abel's sacrifice and not his?  Didn't God know how hard he had worked?  Didn't God understand all the hours he put in?  And this brother of his?  What had he done? Not much, by Cain's estimation.  It seemed unjust.  It seemed disproportionate.  Surely God made a mistake and didn't realize just what was involved in managing the land.  Maybe God had forgotten, that he, Cain, was the older more responsible brother who had selflessly helped provide for his family.  I can see the thoughts swirling in Cain's head.  It just wasn't fair.  And how many times had his mother proclaimed him the savior of their family?  When he was born, she had said, "I have gotten a man from the LORD" implying that he was the accepted one that God had promised while they still were in Edenland.  How could God not accept him?  It was ridiculous.  How hard he had worked all this time, all these years, and God was going to tell him he wasn't good enough?  And worse, that Abel was?  What was going on here?
     Cain measures the rejection of his sacrifice with God rejecting him. But it is clearly not the case.  If it had been, why does God seek Cain out and encourage him to do better?  God says to Cain, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?"  Cain would have to lay down his pride to do well.  But he wasn't willing to do that.  He wasn't willing to accept God's way, even though God's way is the only way.  He wasn't willing to recognize Abel's no-work-involved sacrifice.  Maybe Cain hadn't given God the best of what he had harvested, but it was still more than anything Abel could offer.  Sheep.  Humph!  What nonsense!  Cain was the Promised One (or so he probably thought).  Cain was the Firstborn.  Cain was the son who held all the family's hopes and dreams of deliverance.  Then to be flat out rejected.  It hurt.  It confused him.  It didn't make any sense.  And Cain never gets over it.  Instead of listening to God's warnings, instead of taking God's advice, he takes matters into his own hands.  He kills his brother.  He rids himself of the reminder that he was less.  He thinks that somehow eliminating Abel will somehow make his offering more acceptable to God.  Now who is ridiculous?  It does not have the desired effect.  God does not all of a sudden see how hard Cain has worked and say, "Oh yes, I understand now.  I do accept your sacrifice, Cain."  How Cain thinks it will work that way can only be irrational blinding pride.
     God never rejected Cain's offering on the basis that he hadn't worked hard enough.  He rejected it on the basis that no amount of work could help him.  He rejected it because it is by grace alone that He accepts us.  I shouldn't be surprised that Cain didn't understand this, because unfortunately, there are too many people today who still don't understand.  They can't see why all the good things they do will never, ever be enough to appease God.  They can't believe that all the work they have put in can never be acceptable.  They figure there must be some way to earn our way to God.  That is because they can't comprehend God's immeasurable love for us.  They can't understand a God who would sacrifice for us, instead of the other way around.  Why?  Because that is not how they would have done it.  It isn't how I would have saved this world either.  It is not how any idol or god requires salvation.  Every other religious system requires something from the believer.  Not God.  He just requires that we believe and accept His methods.  That we humble ourselves and accept His ways.  His way is to provide salvation for us.  Abel seemed to understand this.  Cain never would.  Maybe it is because he believed himself to be the way of salvation.  Maybe his parents voiced their belief that he would be their Deliverer once too often and Cain couldn't fathom that this was only his parents plan, not God's.  And there is no indication that Cain ever asks God for forgiveness or redemption.  In fact, verse 16 says, "And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD..."  Cain never gets it.  He could have, but his pride would not be overcome.  And humility is the most necessary ingredient to salvation.
     Cain was a hard worker. But it wasn't enough, not when it came to eternity.  It wasn't enough for him, and it will not be enough for any of us.  Cain never accepted or recognized that whatever holiness we pretend at, it can never measure up to God's.  The real question is, how many others will allow pride to hold them back as Cain did?  No matter what we have been led to believe in the past, our works are never enough.  Only God's work, by sending His Son to die on the cross will suffice.  It is the Abel sacrifice.  And it is acceptable.
   

Working or Worshipping?

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 7:17-40
     "There is difference also between a wife and a virgin.  The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit:  but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband."
     I think somewhere along the way, I either forgot about this verse, or didn't understand it fully.  Up until a few years ago, my husband worked the "afternoon" shift.  This means he left for work late afternoon, and did not return until after midnight.  As a teacher, I worked a usual school day, which means that for the first five years of our marriage, we rarely saw each other.  In some ways, it was almost like I was still single.  I didn't rush home to make dinner, since it was only me.  I stayed late grading papers, because I would go home to an empty house.  I often spent time with friends when the school day ended, because I was not able to enjoy his company.  I didn't drop any of the church ministries I was involved in because after all, the Lord should always be first.  Somewhere along the way, I neglected to make my husband my priority.  I think it is because I never really transitioned from being single to being married.  I guess I still felt single.  I always knew that my husband should be my priority.  I always understood that now that I was married it would be different, but since our routines didn't change much, it didn't feel very different.  It was easy for me to behave the same.  I said yes to a lot of things to which I should have no.  I see that
now.           
     After the kids started coming along, there were definite ministries I knew I could not be involved and had to quit.  Still, after only one child, it was mostly just little guy and me.  Daddy still worked every night, although now that I was home, I was able to spend time with him during the day.  I felt more like a married woman than I did in our earliest years.  Two more children, and you would think I would have slowed down with responsibilities outside my home, but I feel busier than ever.  I'm not sure that this is always a good thing.  I have a problem with one little word.  NO.  I can say no to my kids.  I can say no to my husband.  I just have a hard time saying no to anyone else.  I have seen how I have made others more of a priority.  I can see how I should have handed some of my church responsibilities to other people.  This is not quitting.  This is not getting less involved.  I am showing love for God by loving my husband better.  I have neglected our home.  I am getting better, but nobody can keep up the schedule I'm keeping and expect a clean house.  When I am not here to clean it, when I am exhausted running around to everything under the sun, how can I expect dishes to be done, laundry to be folded, floors to be mopped?  I'm getting better.  My husband never complains.  He tells me on occasion, we have three kids, things are going to get messy.  I always argue, not this messy.  I say, other people who have this many kids manage.  Other people who have young children do not seem to turn white when an unexpected knock comes on the door.  I have been looking around lately.  I am at everything.  Other ladies are not.  Other ladies actually do miss some things so they can go to the laundromat, or go to the grocery store, or just do the weekly household chores.  I don't see every mother at every birthday party, every bridal and baby shower, with kids in tow.  I think those things are important,  especially as regarding my church family.  But I'm beginning to think I have it all wrong.  When did my church family become more important than my real one?  I have had to do a lot of soul searching this morning, and I think that perhaps it is time to lay some things down.  I have tried to balance.  Being home during the day seems like it should give me ample time to get everything accomplished, but when the responsibility list outside my home grows greater, it leaves less time to pick up the broom and dustpan.  It leaves little time to tend to my husband who works so hard.  I'm not saying that I will stop attending events, that I will stop teaching my Sunday school class, that I will not take a meal to somebody who is ailing.  I'm just looking at how I've been a wife and mother for these last several years, and if I were grading myself, I would have to give myself bad marks.  I've gotten some things right.  But I know that my family has been pushed farther and farther down the priority list.  A clean home is not everything, I understand that too, but I am showing less love for my family when every week I have to scramble to find something to eat because I haven't had time to go grocery shopping or when I have to search high and low for matching socks because I haven't put the laundry away yet.  Not everything gets done in the best of homes.  But somehow I have equated my love for God with busyness.  I have become Martha instead of Mary.  Some weeks are naturally going to lend themselves to hectic schedules, but should every week?  I have a lot to pray about.  God will always be my highest priority, but serving God does not mean I have to neglect my home.  That is certainly not serving my husband, or my children.  I am remembering something one of my college professors, a pastor's wife, once said, "Don't get work and worship confused.  They are not the same thing."  Have I been working, thinking I have been worshipping?  I am not to worship my husband, but the verse above says I am to please him.  When is the last time I have done that?  Maybe I should ask him. 

Sin Stinks

Today's passage: I Kings 5
This week we have been having 8 day revival at our church.  We are only the second day in, and God has enriched my spirit.  Sunday night's message dealt with Elisha and Naaman.  The message was tremendous.  While the speaker was preaching, God brought a different thought for this passage to my mind.  Although, I'm sure it has been taught as such many times before, this was the first time God had impressed it on my heart.  As the preacher was describing the horrors of leprosy, I was reminded that leprosy in the Bible many times symbolizes sin.  The speaker described the bandages to wrap the affected leprous parts and referred to the verse in Isaiah 64:6, "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags...".  He suggested that the filthy rags were as those of a leprous person.  Not a pleasant picture, of course, but that certainly gives us a better view of how God sees our attempt to cover our sin.  I was thinking about the unpleasantness of leprosy.  Once a person has the disease, there is no cure.  The disease begins to isolate the carrier from loved ones.  It smells, it erodes, it destroys.  Isn't this indeed the picture of sin?  We cannot be rid of our sin.  We carry it with us wherever we go.  It does awful things to us and other people.  Basically, sin stinks.  Too many of us, like Naaman think we can do something about our sin.  Like Naaman, we succumb to our pride and want to do it our own way.

Naaman goes to Israel for healing from leprosy--Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book  Three
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
Standard Publishing Company, 1926

 Naaman learned if he truly wanted to be rid of this dreaded disease, he would need to do things God's way.  Why couldn't he cleanse himself in the rivers of Damascus?  Because God said he must do it this way.  Why should he dip himself seven times when once should suffice?  Because God said this is the way it must be done.  Why shouldn't I trust in the good things I have done to get to Heaven?  Because God says in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."  Some may say, "That's too easy. " It isn't too easy.  It is the hardest thing to do.  Why? I must recognize that I am an awful sinner (and not one of us wants to admit that we are no good, even though we know it is true).  I must recognize that the good things  I have used to try and disguise or cover up my sin are like the smelly, disgusting, leprous rags Naaman would have worn, and why would anyone, let alone a Holy God accept them as atonement? Would any of us want somebody's used Band-Aid?  Like Naaman, I must humble myself before a holy, loving God, admit I can't do it myself, that my righteousness isn't enough (because I have none) and trust only in the righteousness that God provided through the death, burial, and resurrection of His precious Son, Jesus Christ. And what will transpire when I do this?  Just as Naaman finally humbled himself and dipped the seventh time in the Jordan River, he came up with skin that was not just clean, but as the preacher pointed out, "like unto the flesh of a little child".  The preacher reminded us that Naaman was a soldier,  his skin was undoubtedly covered not only with leprosy, but with war scars.  His skin was probably leathery from the elements.  God didn't just heal Naaman, he miraculously changed him.  What God could do for us, if we just let Him!  God can heal us from the stench of leprosy, he can take away the stink of our sin.

Back to the Prison House

Isaiah 42:1-25
     I think about how all of Christ's ways were perfect.  He knew how to act in every situation.  He knew what to say in every circumstance.  He didn't have to be dramatic to get attention, although many might claim that was the reason for His miracles.  He didn't have to call out like a carnival barker to gather a crowd, yet He was always surrounded.  He never had reason to be discouraged, because He knew God's plan.
     In verse 7 of this passage, I read that He would open the blind eyes, that He would set the prisoners free from their prison.   The last half of the verse says:"..and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."  What a beautiful picture of how He rescued me spiritually!  At one time in my life, I was sitting in complete darkness, with a knowledge of God, but not really knowing Him.  Jesus released me from the bondage of sin and instead of sitting in my cell, I can walk out into the open air, into the sunlight, and know that I am free.  I am fortunate that I have never been in a physical prison.  I pray I will never know that experience.  But I do know what it is like being a prisoner to sin, trying to free myself by my own works, and never being able to achieve that.  Jesus paid the price for sin, so I could go free.  He handed Satan the key to my cell, and told him to let me go.  And Satan had to listen.  He had to let me go.  He no longer has any power over me, nor does the sin that had me shackled.  So, when we know that Jesus has released us, why do we so often return to the prison house? 

I Was In Prison--Taken from The Children's Friend (Part 4)
By Mrs. Adelaide Bee Evans
Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1911, 1928

When we return to our sin (which we will, because we are not perfect), aren't we in essence going back to that cell, handing the key back over to Satan, putting the shackles on our wrists, and closing the cell door behind us?  Fortunately, at this point, we can leave the cell anytime we want, because we have been declared innocent and Satan has no power to keep us there.  But why return at all?  The inmate who has just been released into the world  has a long rough road ahead of him.  He doesn't instantly return to his way of life before prison.  As Christians, especially when we are newly saved, everything in our life isn't going to instantly be made better.  We have to let God lead us through His Word, through praying, through church attendance, through taking an active part in our local church. The getting involved part is hands-on training.  Jesus gives us the power to have victory over our sin.  It doesn't happen overnight.  Yes, he freed us from sin instantaneously, but we still have a sin nature that will always want to keep us locked up.  I need to follow Him in every way that I can.  I don't want to go back to the prison house.