There's Something Crouching at Your Door!!!!!

Last Sunday I heard a sermon from Genesis 4, the story of Cain and Abel bringing their sacrifices to God.  When I got home from church, I re-read the passage. I was struck by a portion that I think I have rarely heard preachers preach about.  The usual message is something along the lines of ‘be sure you bring a good sacrifice to the Lord’ and then tie it in with Romans 12:1-2 which talks about presenting yourself as a living sacrifice.  Great sermon but not what struck me.
 
What struck me was the latter part of Genesis 4:7 that says “…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” (NIV)
I happen to be looking through some of my game park pictures and it struck me.  The apostle Peter writes in his epistle (1 Peter 5:8) that Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us, and that we need to be self controlled and alert.  He likely had some experience with that, as the ‘sport’ of feeding Christians to the lions was a favorite pastime of the Romans.
 
I don’t know about you, but I get a mental picture of what the writer of Genesis and Peter are saying.  It is like the lion pictures above.  Crouching, awaiting to leap, crush with their powerful jaws, and tear apart its victim.  Not a pretty site.
 
The Genesis passage says ‘it desires to have you.’  Satan wants to destroy you. Why? I have heard it said that he desires that because we are made in the image of God, and so anything that might possibly praise God, or reflect God’s glory, Satan wants to destroy.  He is a glory-stealer because he is so into himself.  He wants the praise.  He is crouching, waiting for the opportune time to pounce!  
 
The amazing thing to me is that small word “but” in the latter part of Gen. 4:7.  My pastor, Dr. Creech, always said that whenever you see the word ‘but’ in the Bible, pay attention.  It’s usually followed by something very important.  In this case, God says to Cain (and to us) that ‘you must master it.’  Master your choices, and master the crouching lion.
 
I think the key is in the beginning of that verse, as well as in the awesome promises of the New Testament writers.  First of all, it says “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?”   Pretty simple.  Not a difficult passage that needs expert seminary training to figure out. Do the right thing!  If you are really honest, most times it is not too difficult to decide between them.  The problem is that we like so much to do the ‘other’ things. That is like inviting a lion to crouch at your door.  I’ve seen them up close in game parks, and believe me, you don’t want one at your door.
 
The New Testament writers tell us of God’s promise of the empowering of the Holy Spirit who lives in believers.  On our own power, we are not very good at overcoming and fighting lions.  But Romans 8 (especially verses 10-11) reminds us that the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (three days stinking, decomposing, rotten dead) is living in you, if you belong to Christ. That is amazing power! Resurrection power, availed to us to enable us to choose to do right.  The result is no lions crouching at our door.  I like that.  
 
I thank God that he cares.  He doesn’t leave us powerless – left to the lions.  He graciously gives us resurrection power to follow his life-giving way.
    Choose Self – get a lion at your door.      Choose Jesus – get real life, God designed life.

Our prayer is that you keep yourself from the lions.

Daily by His grace...