Daily Devotional--12/22/09

Genesis 4:6-12

My Brother's Keeper

⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

¹⁰ The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

Cain is consumed by a murderous anger that focused on his brother.

• After Cain killed Abel, why do you think that God approached him with a question? Why did God not directly accuse Cain?
• What was Cain's attitude when he answered God's question?
• How would God like for you to answer the question "Am I my brother's keeper?"
• Why are family relationships more intense than other relationships?