“And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it…Cain rose up against his brother Able and killed him.” (Genesis 4:4b-8)
I wonder, how different this story would have ended if Cain would have allowed God to help him overcome sin. In verses 6 and 7, God is speaking right to Cain and He is trying to show Cain his own sin. He is reasoning with him and is, in a sense, lending a hand to him to grab him out of his own weakness. God wants to help Cain to be victorious. God warns him in verse 7 that “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it”, God longs for Cain to move past his sin and be an overcomer.
Likewise, God desires the same for us. Whichever sin it may be: bitterness, unrighteous anger, lustful thoughts, lying, stealing, cheating; God desires for you to overcome and conquer that sin! It is important to remember though, that temptation only comes to ‘the door’, that’s as far as it will go. We choose to let it into our lives, when we open up that door and let it in, at that point we become personally responsible for the choices that we make.
In this story God warned Cain, as an act of love and mercy, that his sin was crouching at the door and He longed to have Cain overcome it instead of succumb to it. God desires that same things for us today. Jesus is on our side! He conquered our iniquity and we have ‘victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). We must allow Jesus to come in and help us to overcome our sin. He wants to walk along-side us, and help us to conquer the sin in our lives. All we need to do is ask Him and allow Him to do so.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Here are some other helpful verses that you can read at Bible Gateway :
Galatians 5:16-25 16
