The Anger of Cain

The record of Cain in Genesis reveals some sad details of the fallen nature. When Adam and Eve got into trouble about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a chain of events started that allowed evil to gain a foothold within the hearts of men. Both Abel and Cain brought offerings to God.  Both carried out a practice showing allegiance to God.  Abel brought his firstlings of his flock and God accepted his gift as an offering from his heart. Cain's offering was from the fruit of the ground produced by his own labor. Cain's offering was not respected by God and Cain got angry. God's discussion with Cain is interesting:

Genesis 4: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

God asked Cain why he was angry and he warned him that his anger unchecked was an opportunity for sin.  Anger in and of itself is not sin. There is such a thing as 'righteous anger' and it would be sin not to react in anger to things that are evil. But we are to be the master of the anger so that it doesn't carry us away. All relationships aren't perfect. We do things that anger others and others do things to anger us. It is inevitable. To let anger seethe and foment is wrong. We must deal with it and 'not let the sun go down on our wrath' (Ephesians 4:6).

God asked Cain why he was angry and Cain's response was indignation and more anger because he was focused on himself. His anger started to control him and it became his master.

⁸ And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. ⁹ And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

This is the result of out of control anger and vengeful indignation.

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright.

And my foe beheld it shine.

And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

William Blake

How do we deal with injustice so that anger doesn't control us. The other day an incident really hit into my sense of justice. I had all sorts of ideas on how to deal with it. There are many options to taking care of things in a wise as well as unwise manner, but I decided to give it to God and asked Him to show me the best way. God is a God of peace and solutions are right up His alley, we just have to have patience (and I'm not talking about swallowing it- repressed anger is the worst!). We believe that He can show us the best route, and He does!   The resulting action could be like the example of Jesus Christ and the money-changers or it may be as simple as giving a soft answer. It is His call. Cain wanted to call the shots so it ended badly for him. He ended up being the earliest designer of a very ungodly worldly system.

God is a wellspring of peace, love and restoration. For people who love God and respect his way, these opportunities are an excellent way to see how big God's heart is to us.  When listen to Him and respond, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of how loving our Father truly is when we let Him work with our heart! This is the effective use of anger!