Читать книгу The Grace-Filled Life - Maxie Dunnam - Страница 7

GENESIS 4:1-16; JOB 3:1-12

At the very beginning of history, the story of humankind, our story, is acted out not only in Adam and Eve but also in their sons, Cain and Abel. There is a lesson even in their names. Cain means "I have gotten a man." Eve, the proud mother, suggests that this son will bear the dignity of being the firstborn, and that for her he is to be the quintessence of power and strength. "Abel," on the other hand, means something like "nothingness," "frailty," or "meaninglessness." The younger brother is overshadowed by the elder from the very beginning. He is the representative of those who get the short end of the stick.

BLESSING OR PRIVILEGE

Life is that way, isn't it? There are those who are born with silver spoons in their mouths, and there are those for whom the cry of hunger never ceases.

Cain, as a name and a symbol, speaks volumes to us. The strong ones—the firstborn, the blessed, the ones who have everything—easily find themselves in the center of things.

Here is a challenge for us. We have to be careful that we do not confuse blessing with privilege. Because we are especially blessed—economically, educationally, culturally—does not mean we should have privileges that others don't have. The movie Driving Miss Daisy is a marvelous story that makes this lesson clear. Miss Daisy is a Jewish woman—a rich widow. She's stubborn, independent, frugal, and eccentric in a charming way. Her son hires a chauffeur, Hoke, a warm, gentle black man. And that's the story—the story of a rich relationship that grows from Hoke "driving Miss Daisy."

A particularly moving scene is when Hoke drives Miss Daisy to a dinner where Martin Luther King is speaking. The setting is a private Atlanta club, the picture of wealth and Southern elegance. Miss Daisy listens to King in person; Hoke listens on the radio in the car outside. It is obvious that Miss Daisy wishes she had brought Hoke in with her as King speaks those prophetic words, "God's judgment will not alone be upon those who did violence and provoked anger, but also upon those people of good will who knew what was right and good but refused to speak and act for the cause of justice and brotherhood." That got to Miss Daisy.

Another moving scene is the closing one when Miss Daisy has lost her mental faculties. When Hoke comes in for his day's work, he finds her out of touch with reality. She thinks she is a young woman again, teaching school. But Hoke is kind and gentle, listens to her, and calls her to her senses. When she finally is back in touch with reality, she is seated in a chair, Hoke standing beside her. She reaches up with her frail, white, wrinkled hand, and takes his big, boney, black one and says from the depth of her being, "Hoke, you're the best friend I have."

Miss Daisy learned that because we are blessed, it doesn't give us special privileges at the expense of denying them to others. We need to learn that. Because we have everything, we dare not always put ourselves, as Cain did, in the center of the picture.

WHEN THINGS DON'T GO OUR WAY

Now, a second lesson from the Cain and Abel story. When things don't go our way, we are too often quick to blame God. The lesson is in the mysterious story of God accepting Abel's offering but refusing Cain's.

"Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground." The scripture says, "Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock" (Gen. 4:3-4). Then there is this stark word in verses four and five: "And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard."

Both men were grateful to God and, at least on the surface, were bringing a fitting sacrificial gift. It's hardly any wonder that "Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell."

Divorce yourself from that quick identification with Cain and think for a moment. Isn't it true that when God takes the liberty to do something that we do not understand and that we think goes against us, we are immediately ready with the question, "How can God do such a thing?"

Think of Job. He believed it was right for the good to prosper and the wicked not to prosper. As long as God conformed to this favorite idea of his, to his conception of a moral world order, he was all right. But when God did something that did not fit into his system of convictions—when Job's children died, his house was burned down, and his flocks were destroyed—he not only withdrew into the sulking corner of his religious house of belief, he questioned God and the meaning of his own life, as would many of us.

Job asked the same question most of us ask at one time or another: Why? At first he tried to keep a stiff upper lip when he said, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (1:21). But after Satan was allowed to take Job's health away as well, he begins to cry out in chapter 3 and raise the question over and over: Why? "Why did I not die at birth, / come forth from the womb and expire? Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck?" (Job 3:11-12).

It's so with all of us, isn't it? Why should this happen to me? Why did God allow my wife to die so young? Why have my children turned their backs on the church and all I believe? Why is my friend caught in the tenacious clutches of drugs? We identify with what Alex Haley said about the turtle who found himself atop a six-foot fence post in a bean field: "He didn't get where he was all by himself." We know that about our situations. We didn't get here by ourselves, so we blame God.

Cain, unable to understand why his gift is not accepted, stands before the altar of God with a doubting and rebellious heart. God is not acting according to his program. And so Cain reflects our own egotism and lack of trust. Though there is mystery here as to why God accepted Abel's offering but not Cain's, we are led to believe that God was looking on the heart, the attitude of the giver, rather than on the specifics of his offering.

WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD?

In the way of money, it's not the amount but the spirit in which you give. And it also has something to do with proportion. That's the reason Jesus made the woman who gave pennies in the temple one of the most famous women in Scripture. She gave everything.

But money is not all we can offer God on the altar. We can offer him our time and energy. We can give God our intentions. We need to be disciplined in our intentions.

We will never be loving extensions of the ministry of Jesus until we become intentional about paying attention to people we meet daily, listening to them, giving them our time. The offering of our life will be acceptable to God only as we are intentional in making that offering daily.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

Are there circumstances or problems in your life for which you are tempted to blame God? What sin is lurking in your heart?

What privileges are you blessed with? What gifts will you give to God today?