3-6-2023

Good Morning All,

Genesis 4:7; “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

    Did you ever see the movie “The Ghost and the Darkness”?  It had Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer in it; it was about 2 lions that killed 130 people and how these guys hunted them down.  You always got the feeling that the lions were spying on the hunters and then attacking away from them and that the lions were outsmarting the humans.  You always had the feeling that these lions were hiding just outside your door waiting to pounce on you.

    There are many examples of this type of story.  Some are comical like “Calvin and Hobbes”; some are along the lines of Tarzan; even some of the westerns have mountain lions which attack.  You always have this wild animal ready to attack at any moment and destroy whatever it lunges at.  There is always a lot of tension as the hero or heroine stalks the lion seeking to kill it.  I think that this type of movie strikes at one of our deepest fear which is the sudden, violent attack upon us by a force we do not understand or anticipate.  The one thing that I never understand is why they go where the lion is and then are surprised they get attacked.  In the westerns, the horse always senses the lion and balks at continuing down the trail; why don’t they listen to the horse?

     In our verse, God is speaking to Cain BEFORE he kills Abel.  Cain is jealous of Abel and God knows this and he warns Cain (and us) about placing ourselves in a place of temptation, kind of like walking where the lion is.  Sin (the lion) is always crouching at the door.  God is telling us to be wise and avoid it.  At first we may think this impossible but God is telling us that we know our weaknesses and we should avoid placing ourselves where that temptation is.

     This is a simple example.  If you are trying to lose weight, don’t spend a lot of time in an ice cream parlor.  A truer example may be to avoid those who you know engage in gossip if you struggle with gossip.  In other words, don’t play with fire.

    A woman who was very friendly and bubbly was also a little more flirtatious than she probably should have been.  She never meant anything by it.  She liked the attention and the friendly give and take.  Until one time her flirtations went too far and she found herself emotionally attached to a man other than her husband.  They secretly exchanged emails and text messages.  She felt herself drifting from her husband towards this other man.  Sin was crouching and waiting to strike and when it did; it hurt her, her husband, the other man and his family, her friends and many more.  Sin accomplished it goal-to hurt and harm people.

    God gives us the gift of the forgiveness of sins and he also gives us what the Bible calls discernment.  This is the ability to think and see the possible outcome and to examine events and look at them with a wary eye.  Be careful about things that can be sin crouching at the door.  It might be pride in our family or in our church.  It may even look like the right path to go but then out of nowhere sin is crouching waiting to strike.  This is why God warns us to be alert and to not rely on our strength or skills but always look to and listen to God and his Word for our strength.  We cannot defeat the devil on our own; it is only through God’s power and grace that we will win.

Dear Father in heaven, too often we think we can deal with the devil and his ways by our own strength only to be devoured by sin crouching at our door.  Forgive and lead us to place our faith only in you and not in ourselves.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret