This is the Truth Network. Do you struggle with the seagulls in finding Nemo like I do? It sounds too much like me. Mine? Right?
So recently I have been struggling to let go of some things that I felt God was asking me to. Yeah, really. In pain over letting go of them. And as I did that, I started to think about what Solomon's words were in Ecclesiastes at the very beginning, right? Vanity, vanity, all is vanity, a chasing after the wind.
And I decided to go look at that word in Hebrew to see if I could grasp something that God would teach me about that. And as I did I couldn't help but notice that, oh my goodness, the word for vanity Habel is actually the same word. As Cain's little brother, you know, the one back in Genesis chapter 4, which just totally intrigued me that his name would mean actually vapor. Or a breath, right? That which Solomon would coin as being something that we chase after.
and immediately drew me into this whole discussion, and looked at it, I couldn't help but note that, oh my goodness, there is a secret To the human condition of taking possession of things that were actually gifts, that were actually just a vapor. And it's all in the names of the two brothers and what happened with Eve in this time.
So. I just want to read a careful reading of Genesis chapter 4 to reveal some things that God showed me that are absolutely beautiful as I begin to process this whole problem of not making things mine. And so. Again, Genesis chapter 4, starting in verse 1.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bore Cain. and said, I have acquired a man With the Lord. The operating word there, the big change from probably most King James Version or most Protestant Bibles you look at, is it says, I've acquired a man from the Lord, but that isn't the word at all. It is most assuredly, I've acquired a man with the Lord. The idea of that is that there was this partnership that was absolutely amazing that Eve perceived that with her partnership with Adam and God, She created something spectacular, a new life, A man.
And in all the pain of that, she went from, oh, I received this unbelievable gift from God. to I've acquired it. In other words, when you think of the word acquired, it means mine, right? And so she grasped on to something that God had given her. Um And such would be the story of Cain's life, unfortunately.
But just to c continue on in our reading in verse 2. Chapter four it says Then she bore again. With A brother. With Abel. I'm just going to stop there in the middle of that verse to share that.
It's absolutely beautiful. The pause, and when you look at the word with, that again she acquired a man with the Lord. And then that with a brother. which is significant to the whole idea of we have brothers. We have so many brothers and we share the same father.
And poor Cain didn't realize the gift that he had received with A brother. And then the idea that this brother's name was a vapor and clearly a breath. And you know that. Later, Abel's blood would would certainly be that breath that's speaking. from the ground.
It's a spectacular idea. That in Cain's offering, you see the exact problem that I struggle with, and so many of us struggle with is things are mine. And so when you look at the word offering, Which is, by the way, the word gift. But when, you know, and it's kind of neat to see the way the Jews study these words and when it shows that God had respect for Abel's offering instead of Cain's, which is what upset Cain so badly. according to the way the Hebrews read that, the Jews read it, is that fire literally came down and consumed Abel's offering.
Well, you can imagine if you were Cain and you watched the fire come down and consume this offering, you're like, what's up with this other offering? Again, the challenge is that Cain did not give the best of what he had. In other words, he was giving God part of what he considered to be mine, mine, mine. Or Abel realized that his. Was a gift, a breath from God.
And so, you know, how cool that in the offering. Um That That that Abel made was this whole idea, again, of a gift, which is in the word offering, by the way. Yeah, Not something that is mine. And so, as you think about that, you know, this morning, and I'm certainly thinking about it like, oh my gosh. The human condition.
God gave us so many gifts, He gave His children. He gave us, they're vapors, right? And anybody who's had children know that that's a vapor. Or he gave you a ministry, or he gave you a job. They are vapors.
They are vapors. They're beautiful. They're a gift. They're meant to be done with. God, there's the operating word.
It's used so many times in those first two verses. That she acquired a man with God. And then she bore with a brother and with Abel. And so now the challenge to all of us is: can we? do what we are doing with what we consider the mind with God and with power.
Brother.
