Verse 16 says a lot, "Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden." He has lost the identity he had known all of his life, but was offered a new one from God; Cain was sentenced to be be a restless wanderer, and God marked him to guard his life. Cain could have spent the rest of his life wandering the world with God, but instead he leaves the presence of God and forges his own path.
Cain rejects what God has said, and rather than wandering, he builds a city. He has descendants, and his descendants continue the sin of Cain. Lamech kills two, a man and a boy, and claims God's protection over his own life; but no where in this section does it say that God was moving in the lives of any of Cain's offspring. Cain had rejected God, living in complete defiance to what God had commanded, and it does not seem that any of Cain's offspring ever returned to God.
God will allow us to go our own way; He does not force us follow Him. He gives us direction for the life that is best for us, showing us the path of redemption, but He does not force us to walk it. God allows us to live as we choose, but we will be accountable to Him for those choices. And the choices we make about God will have an impact on the attitudes our children and grandchildren have towards God.
What will be your attitude towards God?
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
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