Favor and Disfavor
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: Favor and Disfavor-------------------------------- Date: 3/22/01
Keywords:
"anger" "favor" "offering"
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Passage: Genesis 4:2b - 5*
2b. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
3. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an
offering to the LORD.
4. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
5. But on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was
very angry, and his face was downcast.
Questions
1. Why would God favor Abel's offering over Cain's?
2. What is Cain's response to God's disfavor?
3. What is your knee-jerk response when you feel rejected?
Practical help
It is a hard thing when we try to do something good, and it is not
accepted. There is a lot unsaid in this historical record: What was wrong
with Cain's offering? Had God said that only offerings of animal flesh
would be acceptable? Was there something in Cain's attitude as he brought
his offering that caused God to reject it? These are important questions,
but the answers can be only speculation because the scripture does not
address them. Maybe something was happening in Cain's heart over the
"course of time" of V3 that was drawing him away from God. We won't know
for sure until we can review the game films in the eternal locker room.
What is interesting here is Cain's reaction. His anger is, at its core, a
disrespect of God. It is a failure to acknowledge the sovereignty of God in
making a holy choice about where to place his favor. Whatever God's
thinking in rejecting Cain's offering, we must assume it was right.
Otherwise, God isn't God. Cain wasn't interested in God's heart in the
matter.
When you turn to porn, it may be a reaction to rejection in your life.
Maybe your spouse is looking on your offering with disfavor. Your spouse
isn't God, so you can't be assured his/her reaction to you is righteous.
However, you can choose what to do with it. Will you seek out his/her
heart, or will you turn away and seek safe means of getting your reward? If
you're not married, then maybe you're reacting to a perceived rejection by
a friend, or the fear of rejection, which is innate in us all.
Take some time to explore your own anger, and see if it isn't at the core a
self-centered reaction to the hurt you feel upon rejection. Once you've
explored this, see if you can forgive enough to give your heart
again, instead of closing it off and searing the wound with burning rage.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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