A Work in Progress….

Genesis 4:10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 

Verse 13 has my attention this morning because I’m wondering what part of this punishment is more than Cain can bear? Is it the fact that the ground “will no longer yield its crops” for Cain? Is it that he “will be a restless wanderer on the earth”? Is it the work of his hands? The fact that he’ll have no place to call home?

Genesis 4:11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 

I’m also curious about why God didn’t just strike Cain dead because he killed his brother–an eye for an eye. Additionally, Adam and Eve were already cast out of the Garden of Eden. Why is Cain now simply cast out of the place that he called home? Is there anything simple about this banishment? It certainly lends more credibility to the importance of a place to call home.

Genesis 4:12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Precious Savior, I still have so many questions. Thank You for the curiosity I feel as I read Your word. Thank You for the language that I notice as I read and for the questions that I have, the curiosity, the desire to understand Your word better. Help me to draw closer to You with every breath. Even without answers, help me to seek You, to see You everywhere I look. Amen.

Genesis 4:13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear.” 

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 

Once again, I am left wondering what has been left out of the narrative. We don’t hear a word from Abel. We see his generous first fruits, but we don’t know if he thought going with his brother was a bad idea or if he said anything to Cain on the way or before the murder.

Genesis 4:7 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 rule over it.”

Did he just go along, blissfully oblivious? Did he say anything at all to Cain before Cain killed him? Did he goad his brother in some way? Did he just stand there, patiently waiting for his brother to murder him? Was there some sort of inciting incident or was this Cain’s plan from the beginning?

Genesis 4:8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Precious Savior, I don’t understand why people act the way that they do. They, we, act entitled to things that we are not; angry, even when we are to blame for a situation, bitter, even when we have the power to do differently. Help us to do better. Draw us closer to You. Amen.

Genesis 4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 4:1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” 

The description of the fruits offered to the Lord (v2-3) jumps out at me in today’s reading. Cain “brought some of the fruits of the soil,” while Abel “brought an offering–fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.” There’s definitely a difference in these two offerings: Abel’s comes from the first fruits–the best that he’s got. Cain’s isn’t described as exceptional in any way, making it seem like he’s offering what he doesn’t think will be useful to him, the leftovers.

Genesis 4:2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 

It is so easy to judge Cain and laud Abel in this situation, but how often have I been guilty of the same thing–offering God what I know I won’t miss? Offering God, not the best I have to give but the leftovers that I’m not even sure I can use anyway? And when my sham offering is rejected, how often do I get salty because, didn’t I give? Didn’t I do what was expected of me?

Genesis 4:3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder that it is not just my offering that is important but also my attitude. Sometimes my attitude stinks. Forgive me. Help me to root myself so deeply in You that I cast aside my human failings as much as is possible on this side of the veil. Help me to always offer You the best I have to give. Amen.

Genesis 4:4-5 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, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.   

Verse 21 tells me a lot about God. He “MADE the garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” That speaks to a level of compassion. God was angry at their disobedience. He could have demanded they clothe themselves, but He MADE the garments for them, He clothed them, even though their knowledge of their nakedness was their own doing.

Genesis 3:22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

“God made garments of SKIN for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” He could have used leaves, plants, some sort of natural fibers, but the fact that God made garments of SKIN for them means that some animal had to be sacrificed for them to be clothed. That could symbolize the sacrifice that has to happen when we sin against God, but I think it also shows that our sin affects more than just ourselves. Sin carries a high price that affects many.

Genesis 3:23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Precious Savior, Thank You for loving us, even when we sin and disappoint. Thank You for clothing us, for caring for us, for not leaving us to stew in our own sin. Forgive us when we sin. Forgive us for hurting You, ourselves, and others with our sin. Help us to draw closer to You daily, to leave our sinful nature behind. Amen.

Genesis 3:24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong. Yesterday I wondered why Adam’s punishment seemed lightest since it didn’t affect his body. However, when I look at it from the fact that Adam’s punishment affects him every time he wants to eat, which is three times a day every single day, maybe he really did come out worse for the wear in this entire experience.

Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;

Honestly, though, I’m not sure I feel any better, any vindication. I still wonder where Adam was when the serpent was talking to Eve, why Eve thought it prudent to listen to a serpent, why, with all the beauty in the garden, that forbidden fruit seemed most appealing, whether Adam’s first words in scripture were really his first words. Did he say nothing when Eve handed him the apple? He just took and ate?

Genesis 3:19b …for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Precious Savior, Thank You that Your word opens me up to a sense of wonder, a sense of questioning, a sense of seeking and asking. Help me to read, to wonder, to seek as I read Your word. Help me to see You, to hear You, to draw closer to You. Always. Amen.

Genesis 3:20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 3:16b To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

In light of yesterday’s reflection about order of offenses and punishment, these verses make a kind of sense, even though I don’t like the sense being made. The serpent, instigator of the entire mess, faced the most severe, most personal punishment. Eve, who negatively influenced Adam to eat the fruit, faced the second most severe, personal punishment: pain in childbirth.

Genesis 3:16b with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

What bothers me is that Adam, the supposed head of the household, faces no personal punishment, nothing that affects him physically, just how hard he has to work (if he wants to grow crops). It just doesn’t sit right with me. Adam knew he wasn’t supposed to eat the fruit and yet he did. So why does he not have any painful personal punishments? I just want to understand.

Genesis 3:17a To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

Precious Savior, I know that Your thoughts are nothing like my thoughts, and Your ways are far beyond anything I could imagine (Is 55:8), and I am thankful. I also know that You created me to seek and to ask in an attempt to understand. Thank You…for that innate curiosity and for the ability to read Your word, ask questions, seek answers, and draw closer to You. Always. Amen.

Genesis 3:17b “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The structure, the sequence of events thus far is very interesting to me. The serpent, all of creation, was created before man and man before woman, though the serpent is the first we hear speak, then Eve, then God, finally Adam. God questions Adam, then Eve, then the serpent about the fruit. Then He sets punishments for the serpent, then Eve, then Adam.

Genesis 3:14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!

The serpent was created first, speaks first, tricks Eve first, is punished by God first. That’s interesting. Eve was created last, speaks second, makes a poor decision first, blames second, is punished by God second. Adam is created second, speaks last, blames first, is punished by God last. I find it all interesting, but I’m not sure it’s significant. I just really thought, since God has just unspooled this amazing plan of creation, that the order of events here would have been ordered as well. The order I expected was Adam first, then Eve, then the serpent.

Genesis 3:14b You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

Precious Savior, Thank You for the ability to find Your word interesting, for the ability to see patterns (or expect patterns and not see them) and to wonder about the why. Help me to draw closer to You as I ponder Your world and Your word. Bless my study of Your word by rooting me more deeply in Your peace. Amen.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 3:7a Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; 

There is something about the imagery of “The Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (v 8a) that just soothes my spirit. There are studies that show that being in nature for at least two hours a week can benefit a person’s health and well-being. Looks like God was practicing that custom from the very beginning.

Genesis 3:7b so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 

And I know when my guys were hiking the trail daily, they saw God everywhere in nature–sunrises and sunsets, breezes, birds, deer, even the crazy climbs and drops they endured in the northeast and the gorgeous, gorgeous views. Spending time in nature is good for the soul; it helps reconnect us with ourselves and our Maker.

Genesis 3:8a Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day,  

Precious Savior, You created the heavens and the earth, all the animals, all the land and sea formations, everything. Thank You. You allow us to be stewards of Your creation, to tend to Your world as an extension of our love for You. Help us not neglect that service. You also allow us to seek You, see You in so many ways, as we spend time in Your natural world. Help us not to forget to look for You as we spend time in nature. Thank You. Amen.

Genesis 3:8b and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Have a blessed day.