- Genesis 4 Daily DEVO In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. Genesis 4:3-5 – Both brought an offering to God yet God only had regard, thought well of, one of their offerings. Why was that so? It was the heart behind the offering that God saw and the two boys were very different in that. Abel brought the best he had to God because he saw God worthy of that type of offering. Cain though eventually, in the course of time, brought just some of what he had to God, which speaks volumes of his view of God’s worthiness. For us let’s learn something about our offerings to God. First, He is worthy of our best. Second, He’s seeking a giver that acknowledges His worthiness with their offerings. Where does your offerings to God line up with this story? Are they more like Cain where when you get the time you give a little to God or more like Abel where he gave God the best he had? We all can grow in this area, let’s pray to see how we each need to be challenged with this. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 485
- Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” Genesis 4:1 – Even the things we do “on our own” has the hands of God all over them. Here Adam and Eve had a child, a task that they two alone were able to do. Yet here we see scripture point out that even that had God’s help. Its easy for us to see how God’s help is with us when it comes to our weaknesses, but the reason why our strengths are our strengths is because of God’s help. The reason why success is found is because of God’s hand in it. God is moving through it all, even the things we think we are doing on our own. Think even on the routine things you did today like wake up, shower, make coffee. Did God help there? Who do you think caused air to come into your lungs and who do you think controlled gravity to work in your favor? God’s helping hands are in everything. We have no excuse today to not thank Him because without God and His help, we’d have nothing. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1808
- To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Genesis 4:26 – While in chapter 3 we see the fall of man and their exile from the Garden of Eden, in chapter 4 we see how steep and quick the decline of sin can be. The main story of this chapter is the murder of Able by his brother Cain. In this we see sins of giving to God without the right heart and we see the sins of pride, covetousness, hatred, and selfishness. We see the sin of murder and even dishonor to the Lord. We also see no remorse from Cain for his actions. We see a city being built with man as the central focus, not the Lord, where apparently even more murder takes place within and it’s boasted about rather than repented over. Truly the sin of the world was growing rapidly, but, even there, we see in our verse some people did began to call upon the name of the Lord. We know that offerings and worship was happening prior to this, but we see for the first time in scripture true calling on the Lord was taking place. Some say this is the story of the first revival in history, where despite the sinfulness of others around them, some began to turn their eyes onto the Lord. Let us keep this in front of us, worship of the Lord from us isn’t dictated by anyone else. We can worship in prison like Paul and Silas. We can worship when our world is actively choosing sin like in Genesis 4. We can worship when there is blessing all around and when there is drought. You are the deciding factor if you will worship the Lord of not. Let then your choice be worship today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2810
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