01/04/21 Cain vs. Noah

READING: Genesis 4-7, Matthew 2-3

When God confronted Cain for his sin, He asked Adam and Eve’s son a simple question: “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted?” (Gen 4:7). His point was simple – if Cain would just do what God had commanded, he would be acceptable to his Creator. On the other hand, God reminded Cain that sin was always “crouching at the door,” that is, standing ready to overtake him if he opened the door even a bit. We close that door when we choose to do good instead of swallowing the bait the enemy offers.

Noah, on the other hand, is an example of one who did what God commanded. In fact, the record of his building the ark includes statements like these: “And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him” (Gen 6:22), “Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him” (Gen 7:5) and “[he did] just as God had commanded him” (Gen 7:9, 16). The command to build an ark was a strange one, for sure, but Noah was obedient. Indeed, the Word describes him as “a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries, [a man who] walked with God” (Gen 6:9). 

The question today is whether we are more like Cain (living in rebellion) or like Noah (living righteously and obediently). I pray it’s the latter for all of us. 

PRAYER: “Lord, help me to follow You fully and blamelessly today.”

DAILY ACTION STEP: Confess any sin in your life today. Be honest with yourself and God. 

TOMORROW’S READING: Genesis 8-10, Matthew 4

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.