The first account of ritual worship ... from Genesis 4.1-7
4.1Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
(I want us to learn from how God regarded the worship of Abel and Cain.)
Cain is a stark contrast to his brother. Look at Genesis 4.5:
“but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.”
“Cain and his offering” precedes … “he,” referring to the Lord. “The Lord” is not even named. “He” is secondary to Cain. Cain comes first … for Cain.
Further, Cain’s pride is wounded when God disregards his offering. Understand: Cain’s initial anger is not towards his brother Abel but towards God. Cain bristles when God exposes the latent selfishness germinating within his heart.
“If you do well, will you not be accepted?”
God offers Cain the opportunity to repent, to change his ways, to remove his pride from the throne of his heart. God places the responsibility squarely upon Cain’s will:
“sin is crouching at the door ... you must rule over it.”
Cain cannot kill God. Cain can kill the living reminder of his refusal to worship God first. It is stunning to realize rejection of God’s authority over worship results in humanity’s first murder.
The worship of God is no mere matter of taste or preference. If the worship of God does nothing else, it reveals the heart of the worshipper ... to God. Others will not see what God sees in worship ascribed to him. God saw the deadly pride and murderous self-centeredness festering in Cain’s heart.
I will pivot to Psalm 50 in the next post.
- What Cain and Abel teach about worship as a matter of taste, Part 1
- What Cain and Abel teach about worship as a matter of taste, Part 2
- What Cain and Abel teach about worship as a matter of taste - Pivot to Psalm 50
- What Cain and Abel teach about worship as a matter of taste - Pivot to Psalm 50, conclusion