“So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
(Gen 4:11-12, NKJV)
In the last teaching we learnt that righteous blood has a voice that is continually calling out. In the Scripture quoted above a further link is made between blood that is shed, and how the earth reacts to it. Part of the curse that Cain must carry, on account of the blood of his brother that he had shed, is that the earth will no longer yield to him and bring forth produce. In other words he will toil on the land, but will have very little to show for it – “You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” (Hag 1:6).
It is of the utmost important that one realizes that many believers never get ahead in life and are always discontent with their circumstances, and their lack is on account of these elements! Please sela.
But there is a second implication – the earth will also become hostile toward all that shed innocent blood. For those there will be “no rest, for trouble comes” (Job 3:26) – he knows no inner peace (Job 20:20). The curse of Deut 28:65 has become true for him: “And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.” Amos 5:19 provides a very beautiful description of this unrest – “It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him!” One is utterly relieved when one reads the above and realize that you have been freed from all of it. Jesus had the habit of frightening man out of his self-righteousness. Read Matt 5:21-22 with me, which is addressed to us – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Ouch.
We know that we are allowed to get angry, but not to sin as a result of it – “Be ye angry, and sin not …” (Eph 4:26a, KJV) – anger can honestly cause you to lose your calling and purpose. The Word is very clear concerning this – the sun should not set on your anger (:26b). You are not allowed to delay sorting it out untill the next day – you have blood on your hands. Anger is the way in which you give Satan a foothold in your life (Eph 4:27), and he will ensure that you miss your mark on account of it.
- Sela: Humble yourself before God concerning this very important matter.
- Read: Lev 4; Neh 1; Isa 44
- Memorise: Neh 1:8-9 (marvel over God’s synchronization!)
