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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Sunday, March 18, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Subjecta:Cain and Abel Bible Verse:Genesis 4:1-12 (ESV) "Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 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. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 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 towardThe translation of the Hebrew word here is unknown. There are two “best guesses”: 1) sin desires to control Cain, or 2) sin is contrary to Cain’s best interest. you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” " Message:
Life is unfair. God is unfair. “Fairness” is a nebulous human concept. At its core, the idea of unfairness is that somebody with power over us has offended some principle that exists in our mind. We have come out on the short end of some stick or other, and we don’t like it. We have an argument why we should have gotten more. Often, it is true, many others may ascribe to the same principle; and in the relativistic world of the secular law, fairness has a place.
But God is not relativistic. God is absolute. His will is good by definition, no matter whether we like it or not. If we offend Him, if we disobey His commandments, we are absolutely wrong. Our motive is sinful, usually prideful or greedy. This is the basic lesson of the story of Cain and Abel, and its importance is emphasized by its very early appearance in the Bible.
If there is one place that the words “it’s not fair” are likely to crop up, it’s between children in the same family or schoolroom. So it’s not surprising that the Biblical story concerns two brothers.
God did not look with favor Cain’s offering; we don’t know why. Some theologians have inferred that Abel brought the best of his flock, while Cain simply brought a middling quality from his harvest, but that is speculative. The Bible does not give God’s reason.
Cain and Abel by Titian
The reason for God’s favoritism is not the point of the story. The point is, that although God looked with more favor on Abel’s offering, He still accepted Cain. But Cain was jealous of Abel. He committed the sin of pride and the sin of covetousness, because his only harm was to be humbled. And he thought that it wasn’t fair. This led him to the terrible sin of murder, for which he was cast out of society and cursed in the sight of God.
Christ reiterated the unholiness of human concepts of “fairness” in the parable of the laborers of the vineyard in Matthew 10. “When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’”
So, is it fair that someone who lives a life of devotion, serving Christ and suffering, should get the same reward in heaven as someone who has lived a life of profligacy, delighting in the pleasures of the flesh, but coming to Christ on his deathbed? The decision is not entrusted to our feeble, self-serving minds. Our attitude must be always one of thanks, that we might know God’s grace, hoping that others might find it as well.
Meditation : Prayer : Let me not forget you as I go forth into the world this day, blessed Lord; may my every word be a prayer, and my every act be testimony to your love and truth, and may I know your presence every second of this day and the week to come......Amen |
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