Genesis 4 & 5 - Key

Genesis 4:13

And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment [is] greater than I can bear.

I've read this part of the Bible before, but this time through I was struck by Cain's Appeal.

I feel kind of like Cain. He sinned a terrible sin, and had to pay a terrible consequence. But something amazing happened: When Cain asked the Lord for mercy, the Lord heard him and had mercy on him, even on Cain!

v15

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.

Application

In much the same way as Cain, the Lord had great, undeserved mercy on me. When life gets discouraging, I'll encourage myself by praising the Lord for the mercy He's had on me, despite the sins of my past.

Genesis 5 - Outline

v1-8

Adam and Seth

v9-17

names of the first people and the numbers of years they lived

v18-24

Enoch walked with God and God took him

v25-32

Lamech prophesied that Noah would bring comfort from the hard work on the cursed ground

Genesis 4 - Outline

v1-8

Cain killed Abel

v9-15

God dealt with Cain

v16-24

Cain's descendants

v25 & 26

Seth was born

don't imagine evil

Zechariah 8

v16 & 17

These [are] the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these [are things] that I hate, saith the LORD.

These verses talk about honesty and peace, but the part that really stuck out to me today was, ...let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor...

Sometimes imaginations come into our minds, and we start thinking about things we shouldn't at the time, especially in times like prayer meetings or preaching the gospel to children. I've been able to stop myself from thinking things like that several times lately.

Let's watch our thoughts.

1 John 4 - Key

v20

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

We might tend to think of hatred as some horrible problem that other people have, but when we don't treat people the right way way because we don't love them the way we should, what is that? What do you call the opposite of love?

Application

Ephesians 4:31 & 32

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Keeping myself from speaking wrongly or angrily is very difficult when other people are acting and speaking very wrongly toward me. But what way does it say to do it? I need to forgive them, like God forgave us. God had pretty incredible forgiveness for us, when we were so rotten, and He doesn't even mention our sin to us any more.

How can we have such forgiveness? How did God? God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. I'll forgive people thoroughly, because of Christ, so that I can treat them lovingly instead of hatefully.

1 John 4 - Outline

v1-6

try the spirits

v7-10

God is love

v11 & 12

love each other

v13-15

dwelling in Him

v16-18

perfect love casts out fear

v19

we love Him because He first loved us

v20 & 21

if you love God, you must love your "brother" also

judgment, mercy, and compassion

Zechariah 7

v9

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

Today, let's consider how to act justly and show kindness to our siblings.