January 2
Genesis 4:1-5:32, 1 Chronicles 1:1-4; Genesis 6:1-22
An important truth that many never learn is that we are not the center of the universe. I grew up in Brooklyn where sarcasm and bluntness is more the rule than the exception. In my teenage years if I would pause to look at myself in the mirror before going out for the night, my mother would jokingly say to me, "Get out of the mirror, who's looking at you anyway". Though she was kidding around, they were wise words. I began dating my wife in my third year of college at the age of eighteen. I was a swimmer and at the end of the year I was just shy of one second from the school's record for one of the events. If you break the record, your name and time is placed on a large wall in the pool area. In deciding when to start pharmacy school, I mentioned to my wife, then girlfriend, that I was thinking of waiting one more year at my present college so that I could break that record. She was surprised and asked me whether or not it made any sense to place so much emphasis on a record which will probably be replaced by someone else a couple of years after me rather than moving forward with my career. Again, this was wise counsel. As we look around at a world that is spinning out of control, so much of it is because people can not see the bigger picture that God reigns and it is His story. It is not about us, we only get to play a part in His story. Our Pastor, Lloyd Pulley, in a recent message, posed a question: Do we avoid wrongful behavior for fear of getting caught, fearing what that might mean to our reputation and the consequences that might occur, or do we avoid this behavior because we know that an Omniscient, All-seeing God sees everything that we do. We see this in the world of politics, that there is so much dirt on every politician, and they mostly care about their reputation, so few of them are free to do the right thing for fear of being caught and their dirt revealed to the public.
Abel realized that it is really about God, while Cain centered on himself. We see in Genesis 4:4, that while Abel "brought a gift - the best portions of the first born lambs from his flock" to God, Cain in 4:3, "presented some of his crops as a gift". Abel gave his best, Cain did not. God accepted Abel's gift, but rejected Cain's. God who sees all, sees the turmoil inside of Cain and in His mercy and grace offers Cain a better option, as we read in 4:7, "You will be accepted if you do what is right". Cain rejects this offer and instead attacks and kills Abel in 4:8. After being confronted by God, who sees all, he plays dumb. Then when God metes out the punishment, Cain caring nothing for the murder of his brother, is concerned only about the repercussions to himself, as he complains to the Lord in 4:13, "My punishment is too great for me to bear!" We also don't want to miss the bigger picture developing right from the beginning of time. The first prophecy in the Bible was given in Genesis 3:15, "And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heal." The NKJV uses the term "Seed" instead of offspring. This speaks of the future Messiah ultimately defeating Satan. Satan knows this, and throughout Scripture you will see how he tries to either eliminate or corrupt the line to the Seed, or our Messiah. He has righteous Abel (Hebrews 11:4) eliminated by Cain. We read another tactic of Satan in Genesis 6:2-4, "The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives...In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times." These Nephilites were the hybrid product of the sons of God, or the angels having relations with humans, in attempt to corrupt the Seed.
Just before the flood, we read God's view of humanity at the time in Genesis 6:5, "The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil." Does this not sound like our times? Our world is not basically good, rather, we are immersed in evil. The changes have occurred so slowly and so insidiously that what is now normal would have been unthinkable just a generation ago. But we must remember, it is not now, and it has never really been about us. Satan cares nothing for us. We are simply pawns to be used to bring forth his plan of evil. But God loves us with a love stronger than any human love. He loves us so much that to offer us a way out, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to come and die for our sins, yours and mine. Since Jesus has already come, Satan can no longer corrupt the Seed, he has already lost. He knows this. But he can continue to wreak havoc, taking as much of humanity with him in the process. May we render ourselves vessels to our Holy Father, and realize that He is indeed the center of the universe, not ourselves. May we live lives which are pleasing to Him, and may we serve Him so that we can be part of His plan.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: