Genesis- Oh Brother Pt.2

Tuesday, September 8th

Let me ask you this question that should get our attention within Genesis 4. Are we ruled over or ruled by? Read that questions again before you jump into the passage.

Read Genesis 4:6-9- 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 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.” 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

There is so much depth in these verses. First off, God and Cain talking, engaging, God actually giving Cain a divine warning, asking powerful questions, Cain ignores the honest questions, kills Abel, yet God still engages, with a dialogue similar to the dialogue with his parents, Adam and Eve, after they sinned. Instead of “where are you (Adam and Eve)”, it’s “where is your brother?” Then Cain lies and dodges responsibility.

What should get our attention is God’s divine warning and the powerful imagery of sin. God asked Cain two honest, critical questions; why are you angry and why is your face downcast?

Both of those questions were a warning sign to Cain about the content of his heart. It was a warning sign to tend to what is going on within in him, his ego or his identity, something was dysregulated.

Which means if we ignore what is going on inside of us, pain will come, either pain for ourselves or pain in relationships with others or both.

Think about those questions like lights on the dashboard of your car. The lights aren’t the issue; the lights indicate that there is an issue. Ignore the lights, ignore the issue. Pay attention to the lies, pay attention to the issue and seek to resolve it.

This is why it is so critical to pay attention to what we are feeling, what we notice about our body, responses, attitudes. Taking a pause when we do feel dysregulated and allowing God to ask you those questions: why are you _________? Or What is the emotion and the source?

Take a moment and look at the dashboard of your mind and heart. What are you feeling? What could be the source of what you are feeling? How is God getting your attention to tend to what is going on the inside? Sit with God around those questions and see where he is inviting you to tend to the issue, not just the warning signs.