[God created humankind to enter as a person into a relationship with God as Person. Therefor He created humankind with his own will and choice. It is in the way that people make decisions and practice choices, that the relationship with God becomes visible. Enforcement does not expose one’s attitude – only free will does. For this reason, the risk must be taken that a person can choose wrongly, that he can go beyond his bounds. (Bybellenium FJ van Rensburg & Nel. p16)]

 

“And Adam knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.” Genesis 4:1, KJV

 

Maybe Eve uttered these words every time after the birth of her and Adam’s first three sons. God’s command, “[b]e fruitful and multiply “realised! (Genesis 1:28) But children have to make their own way and their own choices on the roads they choose to travel on. Cain chose wrongly. His contempt for his brother Abel because of God’s acceptance of his offering, and not his [Cain], led to murder. A hushed-up, concealed murder.

 

Until God entered the scene, Cain would not answer God’s question about Abel’s whereabouts. God who knows everything, revealed the truth – sin had laid waiting at the door and had successfully ruled over Cain. Sadly, Cain had failed to rule over sin! (Genesis 4:7). God had heard the voice of the blood of Abel crying unto Him from the ground and had acted: Cain, the farmer, was then cursed from the ground, and when he worked the ground, it no longer yielded to him its strength. He was destined to be a fugitive and wanderer on the earth. (Genesis 4:11-12)

 

Then the Lord heard Cain’s desperate call, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” (Genesis 4:13-14) But the Lord said to him, “Not so!” And from His merciful heart, his second-chance heart, God gave Cain a mark, lest any who found him should attack him. Genesis 4:15) Cain eventually settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

 

Do you know someone, or do you stand in Cain’s shoes yourself? All is not lost. There is hope – God hears when one calls on Him! And although He is sometimes long-suffering, He always answers our cry. Not in our time or manner though, but in a godly, unique way.

 

Prayer: Lord, thank you that you are the God of second and third chances and that you hear when this person calls unto you. Today, my past, my now and my future, is an open book before you. May I ask that you show abundant grace when you read my book of life. Amen