THE LAND OF WANDERINGS

Gen. 4:16

Morning Meditation 11/1/15

Verse 16 says, “And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”

It is hard to believe that one would be bold enough to stand up against God knowingly. This is what Cain did. He killed his brother Abel, and when God dealt with him about it, and gave him a chance to repent and receive forgiveness, he expressed his anger toward God and refused. One cannot win when he sets himself against God.

Our text says, “And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod..” The word “Nod” means “wandering.” Let’s consider this as a typical illustration of those who chose to go away from the place where God’s presence is.

TO GET THERE CAIN DEPARTED FROM GOD’S PRESENCE

Our text says, “And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD.” The presence of God is the place of confrontation. Cain killed Abel his brother. Verse 9 says, “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?” God came with a question. It was a question that demanded an answer which, if answered, would be a confession to murder. Cain refused the question by answering with a lie. He said he didn’t know when he knew exactly where Abel was. Cain had become the very first murderer.

The presence of the LORD was the place of enlightenment. Cain discovered that he could not lie to God. When Cain lied about the murder of his brother, God said in verse 10, “What hast thou done? The voice of brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” Cain was caught. He discovered that you can’t do wrong without God knowing.

The presence of the LORD was the place of confrontation. God didn’t just let Cain know that He knew what he had done, but He let Cain know that He held him accountable, and there was a price to pay for sin. God said, “And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand.” Man does not like to be confronted with authority. Those who win people to Christ run into this all the time. Many people when asked, “are you a Christian?” answer in anger, “it is none of your business.” I have knocked on the front door homes where I had gone to talk to someone about the Lord and heard the back door slam. I knew I wouldn’t find the one at home I had come to see! The way back to God is the way of confrontation.

The presence of the LORD was the place of opportunity. When Cain confessed that the punishment was greater than he could bear (vs 13), and accused God of being the One responsible for his problems (vs 14), the LORD said to him, “And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.” (Vs 15). Even here, God is protecting Cain’s physical life to give him an opportunity to repent of his sin and accept the offer of the right sacrifice..

The land of WANDERINGS was away from the presence of the Lord. Then,

TO DWELL THERE IS TO RAISE A FAMILY AWAY FROM GOD’S PRESENCE

The first thing that we discover that Cain did after he departed from the presence of the LORD was to begin a family (vs 17). His first son was named Enoch. Then Cain built the first city and named it after his son Enoch. So civilization began with Cain. It has been growing ever since. We have in these verses the development of metal work and music. The natural man always puts emphasis on the physical. The natural man does not mind being religious, but he does not want it to come first. Jesus said in Matt. 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Cain’s children were born away from God’s presence. They were raised by a father who was mad at God and had rejected Him. Next let’s notice,

THE FUTURE OF THOSE WHO DWELL OUT OF GOD’S PRESENCE

What happened to the civilization of Cain? They all perished in the flood. This is the destiny of those who refuse God’s confrontation, reject His offer of forgiveness, and go away from His presence. They had the civilization and all that goes with it, but they didn’t have God. What they did had interfered with their ability to hear from God. Noah preached for 120 years and the only ones that responded to his message was his own family. This was a horrible tragedy. But the fact is that the generation that we live in is going in the same direction. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but we are not going to win the world to Christ. They are as dead to their spiritual need as a box of rocks and do not want to be disturbed. Finally,

THE WAY TO GOD REMAINS A WELL MARKED WAY

God said to Cain after the rejection of his sacrifice in Genesis 4:7, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Most of the scholars agree that this is God’s appeal to Cain that he reconsider. The word “sin” is probably referring to a SACRIFICE FOR SIN. If I am right, and I do believe this to be true, God lead the sacrifice to the very door of Cain and made it convenient for him to make the offering. The word “lieth” in the phrase, “lieth at the door,” translates “rabats” and means, “to stretch oneself out, lie down, lie stretched out.” It is in the Hebrew Qal stem. The Qal is the most frequently used verb pattern. It expresses the ‘simple’ or ‘casual’ action of the root in the active voice.” God just calmly makes the statement. It is not in anger. Though I believe it hurts God when men reject His offer of salvation.

This offer of salvation is the way of grace. God provided the sacrifice. He led the sacrifice to Cain’s door. He cause the sacrifice to lie down at the door where Cain would continually see it. Cain had to walk around the sacrifice. Noah found grace (Gen. 6:8) but Cain rejected it.

“The way is clearly marked for the unsaved of our day. There is nothing more simple than God’s plan of salvation. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We learn from this of God’s love, of His gift, and for what purpose. He loves the world, He gave His Son to die, and it is for the purpose of preventing man from perishing and giving him eternal life. It is for “whosoever believeth in him.” See how well marked the way is? It is not difficult. Men have to walk around Jesus on their way to hell.

The difficulty is not with the well marked of the way, it is with the rebellious human heart. Cain stiffened himself against God and died in his sins without offering the sacrifice. He will be in the judgment without and Advocate, even though every time he went out the door, he stumbled over the sacrifice.

It is possible for the Christian to intermingle with Cain and his descendants. The way back is the same way one takes for salvation (Col. 2:6). We must confess to God we are in the “land of Nod,” and that we are not where we ought to be. Then don’t start blaming someone else because you are in the wrong place. We never get restored to fellowship by blaming others. We must be willing to admit that a wrong response to wrong treatment, is as wrong as the wrong the other did to us. That is, if that is the case. What ever it is, it is our own sin that gets us out of fellowship with Him, not the sin of another. Then as we confess it, we will be cleansed by the blood of Christ. And we cannot be more right with God than the blood makes us.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White