First questions human beings ask

There is a tragedy at the heart of things’, said Martin Buber. The result of the Fall is a broken relationship with God, Adam and Eve blame each other, and then in chapter four we read that their children also fall out with each other. Cain is angry with his brother Abel.

God’s questioning continues. ‘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 master it’ (Genesis 4:6-7).

We will either master sin (now through the power of the cross and resurrection and with the help of the Spirit) or else sin will master us. In Cain’s case it did. He killed his brother (Genesis 4:8). God asked him yet another question, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ (Genesis 4:9a).

In response Cain asks the first question asked by a human being in the Bible, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ (4:9b). Cain wants to avoid responsibility. He is saying, ‘Do I really have responsibility for anyone other than myself?’

This is the crucial question for today. Do we have responsibility? Do we have responsibility for the bad stuff that is happening in our city? Do we have responsibility for the bad stuff that is happening in our nation and around the world? If thirty thousand children die every day of extreme poverty, is that our responsibility?

Lord, thank you for your amazing love for us. Thank you that you have created this wonderful universe for us to enjoy. Thank you that supremely you have given us human relationships because it is not good for us to be alone.

Forgive us for the times that we have fallen for the devil's lie that we cannot trust you and that we need to experience things that you have forbidden.

Thank you that you always come searching for us. Thank you that you have sent Jesus to crush the serpent’s head. Thank you that Jesus was willing to pay the price on the cross so that we could be forgiven and the relationship restored. Although sin is often crouching at our door and desires to have us, help us to master it through your victory by the cross and resurrection and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Help us this year not to say like Cain, ‘Am I my brother's keeper?’, but to see that we are responsible for the needs of those around us, to see the potential we have to make a difference to others people's lives and to fulfill our potential.

~One Year Bible (Day 2)
by Nicky Gumble