BROKEN WORLDS

Life Lessons: Broken Worlds

Genesis 4:1—5:32

SITUATION: After Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), sin affected the life and death of every living creature. Sin and death reigned in every individual. Enoch, the one notable exception to the punishment of death, “walked with God.”

OBSERVATION: Cain, like Adam and Eve, wanted to keep his distance from God. Rather than confess his sin, Cain tried to hide it to keep it from God.

INSPIRATION: Here is a good rule of thumb: Those who keep secrets from God keep their distance from God. Those who are honest with God draw near to God. This is nothing novel. It happens between people. If you loan me your car and I wreck it, will I look forward to seeing you again? No. It is no coincidence that the result of the very first sin was to duck into the bushes. Adam and Eve ate the fruit, heard God in the garden, and crept between the leaves. “Where are you?” God asked, not for his benefit. He knew exactly where they were. The question was spiritual, not geographical. “Examine where you are, children. You aren’t where you were. You were at my side; now you have hidden from me.” Secrets erect a fence while confession builds a bridge. Once there were a couple of farmers who couldn’t get along with each other. A wide ravine separated their two farms, but as a sign of their mutual distaste for each other, each constructed a fence on his side of the chasm to keep the other out.  In time, however, the daughter of one met the son of the other, and the couple fell in love. Determined not to be kept apart by the folly of their fathers, they tore down the fence and used the wood to build a bridge across the ravine. Confession does that. Confessed sin becomes the bridge over which we can walk back into the presence of God. 

APPLICATION: Ask yourself: What am I trying to hide from God? Confess your sins and your desire to live your life independent of God. He wants us to live in full fellowship and communion with him.

EXPLORATION: Broken Worlds—Exodus 2-3; 2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 51; Jonah 1-4; Matthew 26:69-75.