“So the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.’
Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’
He said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’
And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.’” Genesis 4:6-10
Can you imagine having this conversation with God and telling Him you don’t know where your brother is (as if God could not know you killed him and why) and than going so far as to add that snarky comment, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” when God Himself asks for your explanation of his absence?
“Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark; they say, ‘Who sees us?’ and, ‘Who knows us?” Isaiah 29:15 “‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘and not a God afar off?’ ‘Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:23-24
While as it may be easily to acknowledge how silly it is of others to think that they can hide their sins from God in reality we are not much better. We sin as if God’s can’t see, defend wrong doing as if He doesn’t know what happened, yet have the nerve look at people in the Bible with amazement at their boldness in sinning directly in the face of God.
Is God any less familiar with the details of our lives or the motives for our actions? Can we excuse our sin in the face of God any more successfully than Cain? At times I felt moved to pity toward God just for being exposed to our foolishness. We shouldn’t live as if we are unaware of God’s presence. Don’t be like Cain who acknowledged God’s presence with his lips but denied it in actions.
Picture originally found here
