One of the (many) great things about this month is the fact that we are serving with a mixed team. In our eight months on the Race, we’ve only served alongside men one other time, and had almost forgotten what great examples men of God can be. The men we’ve lived with this month are such amazing modles of how men can be strong yet still be servants, how they can lead but also support and protect.
Another thing this month has brought with it is a lot of freedom. We have multiple ministries that we are a part of, but we also have the freedom and time to invest in one another and in deeper relationships with God.
One of the products of both these things has been a house Bible study led by one of our squad-mates, Kevin. This past week, he led us in a study of the book of Genesis from the fall of man through Noah, and one of the things that stuck out to me during this Bible study has stayed with me all week.
We were reading through the account of Cain murdering his brother Able – the first sin of its kind – and how God responds to it. I’ve read this story more times than I can count. I grew up hearing it told and retold in Sunday school classes and seen it played out on stages. But I’d never before felt the full weight of God’s response.
When God comes to Cain and says “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth”, Cain knows he’s busted. He begins to weep and pleads that the punishment for his sin will be too great – he will be a wanderer in the land with no home, he will be separated from the presence of God and whoever finds him will kill him. But God is able to look at Cain and say “not so”. He puts a mark on Cain to protect him and allows him to have a wife, a family and to live out the rest of his days.
And while this always made me think “Wow, God was so merciful to Cain”, what never occurred to me was why God was able to do this.
It was because He knew that He was sending His Son, and Jesus was going to bear the consequences of Cain’s sin. Jesus would be a restless wanderer on this Earth with nowhere to lay his head. He would be driven from the presence of the Father on the cross and ultimately be killed – the exact punishment that should have been Cain’s.
This story is such a beautiful picture of how completely all-encompassing Christ’s sacrifice was – even from the very first murder. And if He could have mercy on Cain to bear his punishment, how much more can He bear yours and mine? I’ve always seen God in Able’s part of the story – always identified myself with Able. But maybe Jesus and His love are better shown through Cain’s story. And I think each of us is more like Cain than we know.
