And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
- Genesis 4:2 (KJV)
Adam and Eve continued to have children with the birth of Abel, their second son. The name Abel means "vanity" or "breath." Being vain and self-absorbed was embedded within the name of Abel. However, Abel was a keeper of sheep. That meant that Abel had to redirect his focus on the sheep so that none of the sheep would be killed either by accident or by predators. To eliminate his weakness, Abel chose to do something to counteract that weakness.
Abel is an example to us on how we can improve ourselves by choosing to do something to counteract weaknesses. The contrast between Abel and Cain is that Abel had to remove the focus from himself while Cain only had to focus on working hard in order to produce crops. There's nothing wrong with this contrast in hindsight, but this revealed contrast does establish a starting point as to why Cain eventually killed Abel.
Numerical Breakdown: (4) Stay in God's Word in order to consistently produce. (1) To stay in the anointing, focus upon protecting others. (5) To stay in God's presence, be a good steward.
No comments:
Post a Comment