Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.“
(Genesis 4:8)

Cain had time not to do this. He could have changed his mind at the invitation. He could have changed his mind during the walk. He could have changed his mind before he struck. He had MANY opportunities NOT to kill. Because of God’s words to him, he KNEW that he could deal with this issue in another way. He KNEW that he had other options. This was NOT a crime of passion. This was NOT a sudden thing. Cain intended to do his brother harm. Cain intended to kill him. Cain had thought of this thing (killing) that was brand new in the Earth (only since the Fall had death entered the scene). He envied his brother and chose to kill his brother to satisfy that envy. This was premeditated and this was evil. Cain’s fall from attempted worship of what he knew to be right and good to his total worship of his evil impulses proves that all humanity is inherently selfish. We are all one step away from committing ungodly acts. All we need to do is think more of ourselves and less of God. It’s that simple.

This broke God’s heart. God didn’t will this – we know that because of His words to Cain (Genesis 4:6-7). He wasn’t teaching Cain a lesson in this – the lesson was in His words to Cain. He didn’t ‘permit’ this for some higher purpose. Cain had free will and gave into temptation, let rage control his thinking, and chose an ungodly action on purpose all on his own. God IS sovereign, but He is NOT a dictator and He does not force ANY action, word, or though upon His beloved creation.

The question here is really this: why kill Abel in the first place? Yes, he was angry at Abel. He probably blamed Abel for his not being accepted by God. He was probably jealous. What would killing do for him? Well, since it was a temptation from outside (Genesis 4:7), we need to look at outside thinking. The devil only thinks one way. If God has one plan, destroy it and God will be forced to use you (the devil is trying to supplant everything and everyone – especially God). So if Cain killed Abel, God would be forced to accept Cain because there would be no one else to accept. Supplantation by removal. This twisted thinking is the fruit of jealousy. Killing was its harvest.