Fully Devoted: The FallSample

Cain and Abel, Part 2

Yesterday, we looked at the story of Cain and Abel and saw that sin is never satisfied. And it will continue escalating uncontrollably if left unchecked. After Abel’s murder, God talks with Cain:

... “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” Genesis 4:9-10 NIV

One of the most common questions people ask about God is why He allows bad things to happen to good people. The short answer is this: God gave us the gift of free will. 

So we have the freedom to choose what we do and how we live—and this is a gift. But that gift can be directed toward harmful outcomes that feed sin and violate the dignity of others. This is what the story of the Fall is all about: Human beings taking what God intended for good—the freedom of choice—and using it to fuel their selfish desires. 

God gave us this wonderful gift because love cannot exist without choice. God wasn’t looking for a world filled with rocks and robots—He wanted relationships. But the world we experience today, a world that’s fallen and broken, is not the way things are supposed to be. This world has been corrupted by sin and is in need of redemption. 

God allows us to make choices that are against His good and perfect will, but God will never abandon or turn His back on us. Still, God will hear the cries of His people. God sees the suffering of the oppressed. God weeps with those who are in pain. God laments at the injustice and evil that’s being committed. And God acts to bring an end to the Fall and spread renewal over creation. 

This is the promise of the gospel. And this promise is delivered in person by Jesus. He’s the Word made flesh—God in human form. That’s why the gospel is good news, because the God of everything will stop at nothing to rescue His people from sin and restore His creation. 

The author of Hebrews refers to Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant, and to His sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The blood of Abel cried out from the ground at the injustice of his murder. But the blood of Jesus, dripping down His forehead, sprinkling out of His hands and feet, and gushing from the wound in His side, speaks a better word. 

The blood of Jesus cries out that God’s redemption has arrived, sin has been disarmed, and the way has been opened for all people to be made new through the grace of God. 

God does not look down at our suffering with His arms crossed. God entered into our suffering by hanging on a cross with His arms spread wide, welcoming anyone who wants to be in His family.

Journaling Questions 

• What stuck out to you from today’s reading? Write an important verse in your journal.
• Describe the relationship between love and choice in your own words. 
• How does God respond to suffering and injustice, as seen in today’s Scriptures?

Memory Verse

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NIV