Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
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.”
Genesis 4:6-7
Why was Cain angry? Because he had been found out. He had failed to deliver the required sacrifice. God could have doled out immediate consequences, but instead He lovingly confronts Cain – gives him an opportunity to repent and change course.
Let’s re-read the sober warning from the passage above: … if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you…
It is God’s kindness and love that intercedes to warn us, to call us back.
God did not force Cain to obey –just as He didn’t force Cain’s parents to obey. He permits Cain to choose to obey…or not.
Cain is in the driver’s seat. The light changes to “yellow” – God’s words to him are a WARNING light. Does he hit the brakes …. or push down hard on the accelerator and run on through?
You and I also have the benefit of a warning light from God. As women of God, we have the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the light of His Word. He shines the light on our path, revealing the danger. Do we listen and heed His “heads up?”
Even in the midst of heading in the wrong direction, there is time to hit the brakes and make a u-turn. God will show us the exit ramp – the “way of escape:”
…when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out
so that you can endure it.
I Corinthians 10:13
God loves us too much to leave us in our sin. Even in the midst of veering off course, He calls us back.
The woman of God heeds the Holy Spirit’s warning.
