READING:
One-year plan: Genesis 4-6, Matthew 2-3
Two-year plan: Genesis 3:1-4:16, Matthew 1:12–25
———
Here is what God said to Cain: “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (see Gen 4:7). Scholars debate much about this verse, but the essence of the conversation is that doing well lifts up our countenance and brings reward, but doing otherwise opens the door for the wild beast of sin who is just waiting to pounce. In fact, some scholars believe the “crouching” image represents a demon. In the words of Matthew Henry, “The way of sin is down-hill, and men go from bad to worse. Those who do not sacrifice well, but are careless and remiss in their devotion to God, expose themselves to the worst temptations; and perhaps the most scandalous sin lies at the door.”*
The demons of hell long to draw us into sin and destroy our witness and our work. On the other hand, we are not left to defeat. We need not let sin win in our lives when we have the Spirit of God who empowers us and sets us “free from the law of sin and of death” (Rom 8:2). Sin may crouch at the door, but God always provides the way of escape. God, then, is pleased when we do the right thing.
May all of us make the right choices today!
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Is sin crouching at the door anywhere in your life?
PRAYER: “God, make me wise to recognize the power of sin.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Genesis 7-9, Matthew 4
Two-year plan: Genesis 4:17–5:32, Matthew 2:1–15
———-
*Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume(p. 17). Hendrickson.
