Don't give sin a foothold

 Read Genesis 4

Let’s start after the offerings.  Abel’s brought him favor.  Cain’s was less.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  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.”

Let’s focus on this part: “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

We are charged to be masters over sin.  Paul wrote :

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

From the beginning, humankind had to deal with sin and we are charged to be masters over sin.  Sin is present and powerful but we are to be more powerful.

It sounds like we are to be stronger than sin.  It sounds like this is all on us.  It sounds like we had better use our own understanding if we want to rule over sin.

But God told Cain to just do what is right.  Just do what God expects of us.  We are of the earth.  We are of God.  We struggle, but we can trust the Lord and do what he tells us to do.

Sometimes we have to figure out what pleases God, but we should not get angry and let sin take over when we don’t get it right on the first attempt.

We must be alert, on our guard, and ready at all times because sin lurks nearby waiting for its opportunity.  The more we do things God’s way, the fewer opportunities sin has to make its move.

Sin uses terrorist tactics.  It wants to attack the least defended target that gives it the highest payoff.  If we are focused on doing things God’s way, we are not a prime target.  The Devil and evil would love to bring us down, but when we live to please the Lord, our defenses are strong. Evil wants to bring us down because we are bringing light and love to the world, but our defenses are sound when we remain in the Lord.

Our downfall comes when we think, “I’ve got this.”  When we forget that we are incomplete without God.  When we try to do anything or everything without yielding to the Spirit that lives within us.

Our human nature wants us to be masters of our lives.  That sounds like a good thing.  It sounds like many earthly religions, but we have one Master and it is the Lord.

We are to be masters over our money, our resources, and other things that are part of our lives, but Jesus is our Master. The Spirit is our Counselor and Helper.  We don’t do anything on our own without risking giving sin a foothold in our hubris.

God told Cain to give it another try, but Cain was angry and discouraged.  Cain gave sin a foothold. This might have been a different story if Cain invited his brother to go for a walk and talk about what it was to please the Lord.

We are told to seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness before all things.  Do we always do this? That’s a rhetorical question.  I don’t know anyone who is batting 100%.

It seems that we make exceptions to what God has commanded.  It seems that we all have reasons or excuses as to why God’s way doesn’t work. All of us have something that we consider unique.  We think our situation is different. We know that our case has to be the exception to the rule.

 It seems that we are sometimes quick to anger, despite the counsel to the contrary. Our own understanding leads us to anger and gives sin a foothold.

Sometimes we wonder why we are not at peace when we don’t do things God’s way.  Why won’t God get in step with what I know that I need—with my desires.

God knows your desires and needs and struggles and he knows what is best for you, even when you think otherwise.  Yes, it’s more trust in the Lord over our own understanding, and it won’t be the last time you get that.

There were consequences for Cain, but God did not disown him. There are consequences for us, but God does not disown us.

But there are blessings and peace when we just do our best to please God and set our selfishness and anger aside when we don’t hit the target the first time.

When we let anger take hold, we give sin a foothold.  When we give sin a foothold, we are on the defensive. 

Marines are taught to kill with pistols, knives, entrenching tools, and anything in arm’s reach, as well as with their bare hands.  They are also trained to hit a man-sized target at 500 yards.  While they are ready to fight hand-to-hand, destroying your enemy at 500 yards is much preferred.

You usually get more medals for hand-to-hand combat, but your battles are better won at 500 yards. Your battles are better won where the enemy never has a chance to get a foothold.

Don’t give sin a foothold.  Don’t let it in close.  Let the Lord fight for you.  Trust him. Obey him. Have faith in him. Keep trying to please him, even when you don’t get it right the first time.

Amen.

Blessings for now and for eternity

 Read Proverbs 10

Today we are approaching the one-third mark on our journey through the Proverbs.  Officially we will hit that point sometime next Sunday, but we have been moving along faithfully in the Proverbs with a break for Gideon testimonies and some review of where we have been in the Proverbs.

So, let’s get back to God’s wisdom as it came mostly through Solomon.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction or wisdom and discipline.  If fools despise it, then the odds are in favor of God’s people seeking it.

If you revere God so highly that the fear of anything in the world pales in comparison, you have begun a journey that leads to knowledge that leads to wisdom that embraces the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

 We continued with another favorite.  Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Trust in the Lord is wisdom and wisdom points us to trust in the Lord.

Seek Lady Wisdom and watch out for the adulterous woman, prostitutes, and the woman known as Folly.  These three each have unsavory plans for you that lead to destruction.

Stay out of the traps set by these women but if you find yourself in an unsavory relationship of any kind, your first priority just became to get out of it.  Better yet, don’t get trapped.

There is God’s way and there is everything else and all the traps are set in the everything else. You may have conflict and you may have trouble in the world as you seek God and follow Jesus, but the traps are set along the paths that don’t follow Jesus.

Solomon not only tells us what we need to know but he counsels us to pay attention.  This isn’t the stop sign in the middle of nowhere.  We come to the busiest of intersections every day.

Pay attention.

Listen well.

Do not forget.

Accept my words.

Store up my commands.

Pay attention.

Most of us realize that our thoughts tend to drift.  We have to refocus time and again.  We have to remind ourselves to stay on task, to pay attention.

We are charged to know the value of wisdom.

Choose my instruction instead of silver,

    knowledge rather than choice gold,

for wisdom is more precious than rubies,

    and nothing you desire can compare with her.

In the last chapter we came across something very similar to where we began.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

We can begin to understand some of God’s ways—those ways that are higher than our ways.  Somehow, God’s ways start to make sense to us, even in our depraved condition.  We know that we must belong to Christ to be saved, but we still wrestle with our human condition. We begin to see the sanity of God’s course set for us even in the midst of our wrestling match with our nature.

Is everyone back in wisdom mode?  Are we ready for chapter 10? Here are some quickies.

A wise child not only brings blessings upon himself but is the joy of his parents.  Those who have gone down the road of foolishness bring anguish to mom and dad.

Ill-gotten gain never pays real dividends.  The woman folly will try to convince you that stolen water is sweet, but wisdom tells us that sweetness is short-lived.

The Lord does take care of his own and lets the wicked get their just due.  We don’t need to second guess how God will deal with the wicked.  Just rejoice that he takes care of the righteous.

Here’s another quip on industry and laziness.  Laziness brings you to poverty.  Industry creates wealth. Consider the value of work as demonstrated in an earlier proverb by the example of the ant.

Righteousness leads to blessings.  Wickedness leads to violence and destruction.

The wise value instruction and discipline but fools come to ruin.  We might list this as a recurring theme.  God’s people love wisdom, instruction, and disciple.

With integrity comes security.  Deceit is always found out.

God hates disension but embraces love.  There is God’s way and there is everything else.  Love is smack dab in the middle of God’s way.  Dissension runs amuck in the everything else.

You can count on the wealth in this world that has come through righteousness.  God will bless you with material things in your wisdom. It’s ok to have money and stuff and poverty is often a sign of laziness. 

In Woke America, there will be some up in arms about this, but remember that we are all given the same amount of time each day and God will reward us for our work.  Where you start out matters if you are running a race against others, but has little bearing on improving yourself and your condition and making a better life.

It is ok to be blessed with money and things because you pursue God and his kingdom and his righteousness.  When we start to compare what we have with what others have, we have lost sight of God’s kingdom. We are focused on building our own kingdoms.

Don’t you wish that God would have told us not to covet what others have?

When we see our blessings as a chance to bless others, we are beginning to understand the ways of the God whom we seek.

It’s ok to be blessed with money and things for your hard work but remember that knowledge, wisdom, discipline, and instruction from the Lord are much more valuable.  Such things often lead to material blessings, but these blessings are secondary to seeking the Lord and abiding in his ways and his wisdom.

God understands win-win.

God did not set the world in opposition to his will.  It got there by ignoring his will and his wisdom.

Not only does the fear of the Lord lead to knowledge and wisdom and prepares us to embrace the discipline and instruction of the Lord, it offers long life.

Let’s put a theme to some of these.  Seeking and abiding in God’s wisdom manifests blessings in this life.  It’s not all about the life to come.  Wisdom offers blessings in the here and now as well as in the eternal.

Seeking the everything else shuns the blessings of the Lord.  There are consequences for rebelling against God.  There are consequences for mocking God.  The blessings of the wicked are cut short.

There is God’s way and there is everything else.  Live God’s way.  It is the only wise thing to do.

Amen.