Cain and Abel

Our devotional this morning comes from Genesis 4. It says this:

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

As Annie was thinking through this passage the other day, and she thought it was interesting that Scripture tells us that Cain gives up his offering, but God did not look on it with favor.

Here Cain is, giving his crop, what has become his specialty, and yet God’s not happy with it. He isn’t satisfied.

As she wrestled with this fact, she turned to the greatest resource she has at her disposal, her husband….Just kidding she Googled it.

She googled why it would be that God was unhappy with Cain’s offering. No one had an exact answer, but there were three possible interpretations.

The first is that Cain’s offering was the wrong type of offering. God may have given specific instruction that demanded the sacrifice be a live animal, and Cain went directly against this command and offered crops instead. That’s one possible interpretation.

Another possibility is that Cain’s offering of crop wasn’t the problem, but it was the quality of that which was given. Maybe Cain didn’t give the best of what he had and instead gave of his worst crops. It was for this reason that God was displeased.

The final interpretation is that it wasn’t the type of offering or the quality, but instead it was the condition of his heart that displeased God. When Cain came with his offering, he did not come with a repentant and grateful heart like his brother able, and so God was pleased with Able and his offering, but God found Cain’s lacking.

As I considered about this, I thought that maybe God is upset with our offerings for much of the same reason.

Many times, just like Cain we are stuck in our routine. We do what is comfortable. Cain knew crops and so he offered it up to God. But God did not want what was easy for Cain, he wanted somethings different.

I want to encourage you to think. What are some things that are in your comfort zone, things that are routine, that God may be calling you out of. What are the crops in your life that God may instead be calling to give a lamb. Something unknown, something new, something uncomfortable.

Maybe God is calling you to reach out and begin a new ministry, maybe He’s asking you to be more generous, or reaching out and encourage someone who is hard to love.

We can’t get stuck in what is easy, because many times easy is offering our crops to God. But it may be the thing that is out of our comfort zone is the exact type of offering that God desires.

Not only do we offer the wrong type of sacrifice, but many times our sacrifice is the right type, but like Cain’s worst crops, our offering is of poor quality.

We read our Bible, spend time in prayer, go to church and small group. But are we truly seeking God in those moments? Are we really giving the best quality of offering in those moments? Are we giving God 100% of our attention when gather in His Presence? Is our prayer less of a conversation and more of a check list? Is our service out of guilt or obligation, or do we only serve out of selfish ambition, or so that we can post our good works on facebook for recognition, or are we serving strictly out of love? Maybe God is displeased with our offerings because their quality isn’t the best we can offer.

Finally, I think that we too present offerings that may be good, but it’s our heart that is the issue. How many of us have written that tithe check with a hesitant heart or served with an ungrateful heart? What if we approach the throne of God in prayer and devotion, but our hearts are made of stone? Think about what Christ said:

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

It’s pretty clear, the position of our heart matters. And if our heart is in the wrong place­–locked in bitterness, hatred, anger, or unforgiveness–God will be displeased with the offerings we present.

Maybe we are too focused on ourselves. Our hearts are self-centered, and instead a good offering comes out of presenting ourselves before God in humility and allowing Him to change us.

My prayer this morning is that we may all be more like Abel:

And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

Too often, I feel like we miss what Abel was doing, His relationship with God was real and pure. His heart was in the right place. He loved God and it was his right-relationship with God that sent him to the altar that day to give an offering.

But Cain missed it. He went to the altar out of obligation. He went to the altar because He thought it was the offering that would make Him good. He thought it was the offering that would put Him in right-relationship with God, but Scripture says God was displeased.

My worry is that God may be displeased with us as well. We give offerings–our time, our money, our service–but sometimes we do it with the hope that by giving of those things, it will make us right with God. But what Genesis shows us is that this simply isn’t true. We can go to the altar and give an offering and still find displeasure with God.

We must seek God with all of our mind, soul, body, and strength. We need to look at the condition of our heart. We have to find right-relationship with God! And that is only done by approaching the throne in a state of humility, saying that we cannot do in on our own, but instead we need Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit. That’s where we must begin! It’s not about what we do! None of that matters–it’s displeasing, if we aren’t right with God. We must repent and seek Him, allow Him to fill us with His Spirit, cleansing us through and through. We have to do what God says in Jeremiah:

13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

It’s then that we have a hope at offering the right type of offering–following Christ’s commands, serving others, clothing the naked, helping the poor, when we are offering quality offerings–engaging in devotions, prayer, and small groups with the real intention of growth and seeking the Spirit of God, when we our hearts our in the right place–free from bitterness, shame, and hate–, when we are right with God, loving Him with all that we are, filled with His Spirit, it is then that God can look upon our offerings just as He did Able:

The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering.