“And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought an offering of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.

And Cain was very wroth (angry), and his countenance fell.

And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth (Why are you so mad?) And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? 

And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door: And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Genesis 4:3-7 

Starting at the “process of time”, ever think of the effects of the PROCESS OF TIME? So many old sayings, “Time waits for no one”, “All in good time”, “Time will tell the tale”,  quirky maybe, TRUE nevertheless and time is NOT any ones friend!

But you know, God actually WANTS our “latter days” to be BETTER than our former days! So why do we often feel the complete opposite? I want to give you a comparison post.

Written “thoughts’ from scriptures, true words of who other’s have felt during the “process of time” and what the scripture states we SHOULD experience during that process. 

So over time Adam & Eve’s boys grew and they offered up their “best” unto the Lord. Abel offered what he knew to be right and what he had been taught to be right.

Cain on the other hand offered up the “fruit of the ground”, things he had grown and sometimes spiritual, maybe we can be guilty of NOT doing what is right but rather “offering” to the Lord the leftover things in our lives.

Instead of giving him the first and the best, we give him what we have left of what we have pulled out of earth and “earth” is us and our hearts. God loves us but God will NOT accept second best as an “offering” of devotion, love, and praise to him.

He has to be number one, so sins sets in and what he was saying to Cain is this, IF he would give HIS best He would be accepted. ANYTHING less than his best would not be accepted.

And that this attitude and failure to correct that attitude would result in SIN controlling him and that Cain himself SHOULD rule over that sin and NOT be snared by his own attitudes and correctable shortcomings.

As we know with the story of Cain and Abel, Cain DID NOT take the Lord’s advice, but went contrary to God’s warning and through jealously and hatred murdered his own brother.

Now we’ll get a glimpse of what it is to FEEL when our countenance “has fallen”, when trouble has taken our joy and worry consume our thoughts, and even when that sin that lie in wait has won and we have fallen to its snare.

Psalm 38: 1-9: “O Lord, rebuke me NOT in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

For thine arrows stick fast in me (deeply pierce me), and thy hand presseth me sore (down).

There is NO soundness in my flesh BECAUSE of thine anger, NEITHER is there any rest (peace) in my bones BECAUSE of my sin.

For mine iniquities have gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.  

My wounds stink (are foul and festering, growing worse) and are corrupt BECAUSE of my foolishness.

I am troubled (bent down); I am bowed down greatly: I go mourning all the day long. For my lions are filled with a loathsome disease ( inflammation):

And there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart (groaned during turmoil) 

Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.”

The feelings of nervousness, no soundness in our “flesh”, anxiety and fear causing stomach troubles, and the “wounds” that grow worse, actually translating to “festering” as NOT ACCEPTING the forgiveness of God does cause all those spiritual conditions that manifest in our “countenance” to intensify and grow worse, because of the overwhelming FALSE thought that God is SO angry that he will never forgive us.

When David wrote this, he was clearly distressed in multiple ways and really expresses the “punishing” hand of the Lord upon him. And i can’t help but wonder how often do we feel this way?

God’s word offers us such hope, such forgiveness that it will clearly offer the healing for these conditions but we have to be willing to ACCEPT it and it is so easy for us as humans, to want to beat our selves up over mistakes and “wrong turns” in life that we will suffer these conditions of OURSELVES rather than to ask God to deliver us and set us back on that right road.

And he will, just as he advised Cain, only Cain refused God advice choosing to “take care of his own problem”.

You know kinda like a “I made my bed, I’ll lie in it” kind of mentality. But God NEVER told us to have that mentality!

And his word is actually quite opposite to these self-destructive, self- punishing, being your own judge, jury, and executioner!  Back to Cain, once God called him out about the murder of his brother and had leveled his penalty for that action, he STILL showed unmerited MERCY and forgiveness to Cain, when Cain expressed his fear of dying for those actions.

Genesis 4:13-15: “And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment (iniquity) is greater than I can bear.

Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth: and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 

And the Lord said unto him,(NOT SO) Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, VENGEANCE SHALL BE  TAKEN ON HIM SEVENFOLD. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.”

Now THAT is mercy and forgiveness! So knowing not many has angrily murdered there brothers, but also knowing sin is sin, why do so many RESIST just letting the Lord take over, forgive them and set his “mark” upon them and rest in his love, mercy, and provision? I think it goes back to that same old messed up thinking, and again that thinking IS NOT right! It does NOT line up with God’s WORD for us!

And it actually takes precedence OVER God’s role in our lives because instead of bowing down to God, we can find ourselves bowing down to our own prideful need to reprimand ourselves, and it is pride based.

It is pride that makes us falsely believe that we should “take care of our own problems” and it really is like telling God that you believe that he saved you, or a list of all the other things he has done for you in your life, BUT you “made this mess, you’ll clean it up”, kinda crazy isn’t it? How exactly do we do that?

We can’t save ourselves.

As the Bible tells us,  a leopard can’t change its spots, and Jesus told us, we can’t change our height, there are things we can never change, only God can can.

And we can’t “get out of our own messes” we have to accept God’s help and I say “accept” because I know God always wants to help his people and it is his desire to see ALL of us free and living in the peace and joy he preordained and purchased for us with his own life!

And we can take a lesson from Cain, even though he fell to that anger and pride, he still had the good-sense to ask God for help and ask God to CHANGE  his future!

Job 5:1-9: ” CALL now, if there be any that will answer thee: and to which of the saints (holy ones) wilt thou turn?

For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one, I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robbers swallow up their substance (wealth).

Although affliction cometh not forth  of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground.  

Yet man is born unto trouble (distresses and toil), as the sparks fly upward. I (but as for me) would seek unto God,and unto God would I commit my cause.  Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number.”

Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to WILL and to DO his good pleasure.” 

Luke 12: 32: “Fear not, little flock;  for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Take him up on it! Don’t let false guilt and self persecuting pride rob you of what Jesus is trying to give you! Let him turn that upside down warped thinking right side up and save you not only from the devil but for a more formidable enemy…yourself.

The enemy doesn’t have to destroy you when you are needlessly destroying yourself.

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NB 2018

Awesome song, wonderful message to remember!