Part 1 of 7 of the theme 'Lessons on the character of God‘ by Gijs van den Brink
We think and talk a lot about the character of God, for example, about His unconditional love for His children. But how does God deal with people who are angry with Him and speak ill of Him? A good example of this is Cain. He is very angry with God and shows it. How did that happen?
We read in Genesis 4:3-5, 'In time, Cain brought the Lord an offering from the produce of the land. Abel also brought an offering: from the first-born animals of his flock he offered the best pieces of meat. The Lord paid attention to Abel and his offering, but not to Cain and his offering. That made Cain furious; his gaze grew dark.
God did not accept Cain's sacrifice. He remains silent, He remains silent. Why? He looks at the heart, and in Cain's heart He saw something that was not good. Indeed, from God's words in verse 7, Cain's behavior is implicitly characterized as not good: he has gone down a wrong path. And this comes out directly to others as well. We read that Cain became furious and his gaze darkened. And then when that anger comes out, God does speak and says to him "why are you so angry, why do you look so dark? That response from God is remarkable. Would you do that?
When we experience this ourselves with someone it usually goes differently. You sense that someone has wrong intentions and you keep your distance. Then when it turns out that you were right, you're glad you kept your distance. And you'd rather keep it that way. God is not like that. God is different! [to be continued]
Next time:
Part 2 of the series 'Lessons on the character of God (from Genesis 4)' is entitled "God sees what is in the heart.
See also:
Part 8 of 8 from the theme 'Lessons from the Book of Ruth' 'Jesus Christ in the Book of Ruth'
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Author: Gijs van den Brink
From: Study Bible Magazine
This is part 1 of 7 from the theme "Lessons on the character of God” Some of which we will be posting online in the near future. We hope this will help you understand the Bible better!
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