What Is Wrong With You?

A question that has often been asked is, “What is wrong with us?”  If that question doesn’t burn in your heart from time to time, then your head is really in the sand.  The answer according the Bible is that to a great degree we underestimate something.

          You can point to just about any crime drama or Hollywood movie and see how predicaments are created because someone always underestimates the bad guys.  God tells us that we cannot afford to underestimate the nature of sin that lies within the human heart. 

          Genesis 4:7says, “But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 

          So what is wrong with us?  It’s not just sin, but it’s also our tendency to underestimate sin.  Consider sin’s ability to become invisible as it’s “crouching at the door.”  In other words, sin’s very nature is deceptive as it hides itself.  This word for “crouching” is almost always used of wild animals.  When I was a kid and didn’t fully recognize the uselessness of cats, we had a few cats around the place.  They were playful and mischievous and soft and cuddly, but if they ever spotted a June bug, suddenly they transported back to the jungles of Africa as they crouched down low with his gaze locked onto the prey.  He pushed himself down in order to look smaller than he really was.   

          God is telling us that our sin, by its nature, always looks smaller than it really is.  As a result, in the midst of your very ordinary life and very ordinary church, there is a wild beast.

          In this passage, Cain was experiencing what seems like some very ordinary and justifiable feelings.  Stinking Abel, he’s always been so straight laced and everyone’s favorite, and I’m tired of it. Those seem like very ordinary feelings, but Cain doesn’t see what’s at the heart of those feelings.  Because there is something crouching down in the midst of that very ordinary grudge, hiding itself from view. 

          Cain and Abel were brothers, and they both came to God with an offering.  Theologians tell us that the Hebrew word here speaks of a dedication offering, taking something that belonged to you and giving it to God as a symbol of your whole self and everything you have belonging to God.  It’s like giving your spouse a wedding ring.  It comes out of your possessions, but it’s a symbol of giving your whole self to your spouse.

          But what if a man offers a woman a ring, but the whole time he’s been dating other women?  She would say, “This isn’t love, this is bribery.  And you want all of me, but you’re not willing        to give me all of you.”

          So when you come to worship, and you give God your prayers, and you give God your offerings, unless you back it up with your life, it’s not love and worship.  Its bribery. 

          First John 3:12, “… unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him?  Because his works were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”

          It was the works behind the offering that was Cain’s problem.  Cain was just like the average person in church today.  He wasn’t a drug dealer and he wasn’t running prostitutes.  He was merely a half-hearted person who wants to come to church and sort of pay God off, but when it comes down to living life, he wants to do it his way.

          Cain was like the man who submitted to God at church, but didn’t submit to God at work.  Or like the woman who submitted to God in Sunday school, but not in her home.  Like the teenagers submitting to God on Wednesday nights, but not to their teachers at school.

          On the other hand, Abel was whole hearted.  He strived to submit to God in every area of life, so God regarded Able and didn’t regard Cain. 

          As a result, verse 5, “Cain was furious, and he was downcast.” 

            At the heart of that ordinary half-heartedness is a demanding spirit with a dominating sense that God owes you.  In time, that can evolve into you trampling over other people because you feel like you’ve got a right to do so.  The wild beast that is at the center of ordinary half-heartedness is most clearly seen when life doesn’t go your way.

          When a worshipper of God finds life not going well, they may get confused or discouraged, and they may even grieve as they ask God why?  But when a briber of God finds life not going well, he or she gets exceedingly angry because they feel like they deserve better due to all their past religious activity. 

          This sin crouches and hides itself well.  Consider that the worst sins in your life look much smaller to you than they do to anyone else.  For example, if you have a great marriage or great friends who will tell you when you ask them, “What’s bad about me?”  You’ll be amazed at how clearly they can see things that you barely see or even notice. 

          Notice verse 7, “If you do right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you.”

          Sins stay around and wait for you because their desire is to devour you.  For instance, when you lie, you’ll discover something happening inside you, because sin has an addiction element.  When you lie, you’ll find that you’ll want to lie again, and you’ll find that lying becomes easier.  When you ruin someone’s reputation, you’ll find that you want to ruin someone else’s reputation, and that ruining reputations becomes easier.  When you do something unthinkable, it’s amazing how fast it becomes thinkable.

          So at this point, you may be asking, “Why did I decide read this blog?  It is so depressing.”  One reason is because your sin is after you, and you’d better not underestimate it.  Secondly, you must realize you need a Savior. 

          Verse 7, “Its desire is for you, but you must master it.”  

          Notice we see hope as God appeals to Cain by asking, “Why are you furious? And why are you downcast?”  There have been too many Christians with an attitude toward sinners that was terribly condemning.  Yet God asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you?”  He asked Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry?”  And He says to Cain, “Let’s think about this.  Do you not see that your real enemy is not Abel, but it’s your sin?” 

          Cain was not miserable because of what had happened to him, but because of what was in him.  God comes to all of us and says, “Do you know why you’re cast down and so angry?”  Maybe you’ve been mistreated, but you’re not miserable because of what has been done to you.  You are miserable because of your response to what has been done to you.”

          It’s our self-pity, anger, bitterness, refusal to forgive, pride, or hurt feelings.  But when you realize that the misery you experience is due to how you responded, then you realize there is hope. 

          So God comes to you and challenges you to repent.  Because if sin is your problem, then you can master it, but if Abel is your problem, then all you can do is attack him.  If your spouse is your problem, then you can divorce or throw something, but if your sin is the problem, then there’s hope.  Even after Cain has killed Abel, there is still hope as God comes one more time.

          Verse 9, “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”  God is not looking for information, He is looking for repentance.  Yet Cain reply shows that sin has devoured him.  “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

          God says in verse 10, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground!” 

          When we, in our sin, destroy relationships, destroy people, destroy reputations, the ruin of God’s creation cries out.  God takes Cain to the pool of Abel’s blood that cries out for justice. 

          But what if Cain had repented?  What if you repent?  What if you said today, “My problem is my sin.  It’s not what was done to me.  It’s not my spouse.  It’s not because I was born into the wrong family.”

          If you will repent, then God will take you to another pool of blood that is also crying out.  You see, the ultimate Abel, who was also hated for his righteousness, was Jesus. 

          Hebrews 12:24, “…to Jesus, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.”

          All human blood cries out that sin must be paid for, but the blood of Jesus cries out that sin has been paid for.  If you don’t repent, the ruins of all the people that you’ve hurt are crying out for justice.  But if you do repent, God takes you to the ruin of His Son which cries out, “Justice has been done and you can be forgiven.”