Genesis 4:1-8
Did you ever wake up scared because someone was calling out your name? A man told his story: One day, in the middle of the night, he woke up frightened with his wife calling out his name. He ran to the living room and said: “What is it?” It turned out his wife was just standing on the sofa scared of the little mouse that had suddenly gone into the living room and passed by her.
In reality, both of them scared each other. She took refuge on the sofa and the little mouse hid somewhere. Since the husband could not catch the mouse, at 3 am, there he was, setting up a mouse trap. The mouse was cute, but also still a pest and nuisance that could bring about a lot of damage.
This is a metaphor for sin (the things that displease God, that go against His will, as revealed in the Bible). Those who love God, try to always do His will. But our own will sometimes take us over with bad thoughts, feelings of envy and wrath, bad habits, etc… In the case of Cain, the problem was envy, which dominated him. Apparently, God liked Abel more than Cain. However, Cain did not notice that God accepted Abel (Cain’s brother) because Abel did what was good in the sight of God, as opposed to Cain. God warned him making it clear to him that sin will always threaten us and that we need to pay attention so that it does not control us (verse 7). Had Cain also done what was right before God, God would have accepted him/his offering as well.
The warning that God gave to Cain is the same warning that Jesus gave to the disciples in Matthew 26:41 – “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Spiritually speaking, we can be relaxed, calm, and then, suddenly, we commit a sin. At first, sin may even seem cute, but in the end, it causes great damage and withdraws us from God. Since sin is many times “cute” and provides [temporary] pleasure, it can be difficult wanting to withdraw from it. When we find ourselves weak before sin, we need to seek for strength in God so we can resist sin and not allow it to dominate over us.
If you have sinned but repented of it, confess it to the Lord, ask for forgiveness, and receive your forgiveness from Him.
Fight consciously against sin. God will give you the strength to overcome it.
Do your part and God will do His.
