God Warned Cain: Fearlessly Master Your Anger
Daily Scripture
Genesis 4:1-12
1 The man Adam knew his wife Eve intimately. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have given life to a man with the Lord’s help.” 2 She gave birth a second time to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel cared for the flocks, and Cain farmed the fertile land.
3 Some time later, Cain presented an offering to the Lord from the land’s crops 4 while Abel presented his flock’s oldest offspring with their fat. The Lord looked favorably on Abel and his sacrifice 5 but didn’t look favorably on Cain and his sacrifice. Cain became very angry and looked resentful. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why do you look so resentful? 7 If you do the right thing, won’t you be accepted? But if you don’t do the right thing, sin will be waiting at the door ready to strike! It will entice you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
Cain said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 The Lord said, “What did you do? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 You are now cursed from the ground that opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you farm the fertile land, it will no longer grow anything for you, and you will become a roving nomad on the earth.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
This is an archetypal tragedy, a sad result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in Eden (Genesis 3:2-7). Scholar Theodore Hiebert noted the story lacks historical detail: “The story doesn’t give the reason God accepted Abel and his sacrifice over Cain and his sacrifice. The point of the story is to examine how to deal with the conflict between brothers, not to explain God’s preferences.” * Living fearlessly doesn’t mean never feeling anger—it means ruling over it rather than letting it rule you.
- Like all archetypal stories, this one is about all of us, not just two long-ago people. God warned Cain that the anger in his heart had lethal risks. But Cain ignored God’s message, plotted against his brother, and killed him. The focus is internal, just like Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:21-22. What spiritual danger did God warn Cain about? How does the image of sin ‘crouching’ in wait (verse 7) fit your experience?
- “‘Where is your brother?’ Six times in four verses Abel is described as ‘his brother’ or ‘your brother.’ It underlines the horrific nature of the wrongdoing.” ** What was Cain’s callous answer (verse 9)? Do Cain’s words in this ancient story ever echo how you’re tempted to excuse the results of your anger? What does “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” tell you about God’s concern for damaging actions we’d like to gloss over?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, when you lived here, you showed anger—and got it right. Evil made you angry. I show anger, too, but I often get it wrong. Help me be angry about the things that make you angry. But help me, also, to live with your patience and mercy. Amen.
GPS Insights
Emily Stirewalt
Emily Stirewalt, who serves as Resurrection's Silverlink Pastor specializing in pastoral care of elderly adults, wrote today's Insights. She is an ordained Elder in the Missouri Annual Conference and has served since 2007. She is married to Randall, a special education teacher. They have two daughters, Elliott and Marlowe. Emily enjoys binge watching "Friends" or "Golden Girls."
You might be surprised to hear that I am a big “Star Wars” fan. After all, I was born in the 1980’s so I grew up with Luke and Leia, especially having a solid Gen X citizen for an older brother. He even had wallpaper with all the characters on it, and I still remember the Christmas he received a Millenium Falcon ship. It was an epic part of my childhood. Being a little girl during this time, I was certainly interested in the fantasy of it all. I loved the Ewoks and robots, as well as the idea of Leia being a princess over a whole galaxy.
It was not until I was in middle school when the second set of episodes (1, 2, and 3-yes, if you are not a Star Wars fan, this timing makes zero sense, I know!) that I began to understand how much the Star Wars stories are really all about good v. evil and the power we find in community and caring for each other. And how resistances survive on hope. In the 1st episode, Master Yoda tells a young Annakin Skywalker that “fear is the path to the dark side… fear leads to anger… anger leads to hate… hate leads to suffering…. (SPOILER ALERT: Annakin turns into Darth Vader because he does not heed this advice from his mentor.)
I wonder–what are you afraid of right now? Is it making you angry? How will you use that anger well? Like Jesus did. Not like Cain. Not like Darth Vader. Not like anyone who is using their anger to destroy, kill, or steal. Don’t let your anger turn you to hatred. Let it fuel your soul to do the right thing again and again. To stand up to regimes when they go too far–when people are hurt for no reason other than to show that the powerful and cruel are in charge–when you feel like there is no one to speak up for the ones who are being threatened and harmed. Get angry. Your anger can be holy. Don’t let it turn you to hate and suffering. Let it set you free.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Theodore Hiebert, study note on Genesis 4:3-5 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 11 OT.
** John Goldingay, Genesis for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–16. Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p. 70.
