"....and he was not..."

Day 2

Genesis 4-7

two brothers... one a sheep keeper... the other a grounds keeper-- both were skilled at what they did and brought offerings to the Lord. The grounds keeper, Cain, brought a decent selection of fruits a veggies- definitely not his best, but he thought it was pretty good-- but the sheep keeper, Abel went above and beyond that and offered God his very best cattle! So of course God was greatly pleased with this offering from Abel, and not so much with Cain's half-hearted attempt- this made Cain very angry, so he killed his brother Abel--- thats right, got mad, so decided to go ahead and off his brother just like that--- and you thought the Bible was boring?? wrongo!!

So Cain had a kind of shady beginning- but he gets to a point where he is pretty hated--- wonder why--- and is talking to God about his concerns and basically gives up hope and has come to terms that he will be killed by pretty much the next person who finds him, cuz everyone is not too happy with ole Cain.

This is where God steps in and does something totally unexpected- He put a protective covering over Cain so that if anyone came to attack him they would be given the punishment 7x's over!! Wait wait wait-- the very same Cain that gave a less than pleasing offering to God??the VERY SAME Cain who killed his own brother out of jealousy?? Wow... didn't see that one coming

This goes to show that God really doesn't see us in the same way that we might see others, or ourselves for that matter. We tend to see all the ways he went wrong and yet God was able to see past the current situation to the destiny he had in store for this man's life.

As we read on in the passage we see that Cain had a son, his name was Enoch--- then fast forward a bit we find a bit of a genealogy that goes through each of the family trees from Adam to Noah and we find Enoch to stand out in a seemingly boring stretch of this guy had a son, lived this amount of time, then died..... each one tends to look the same--- that is until we get to Enoch. Scripture makes a point to say that he walked with God... and I am thinking this is somewhat of an understatement when we see what happens next..."Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him."---- come again??? He goes from being to not in an instant. This man walked with God to the point that he is one of the few in history to not actually die--- just went on to be with God!!!! How amazing is that?!?! to have such a relationship with God!

God always knows what he is doing. When we are quit to discount the character of others because the fruit (or lack thereof) that we see in their lives we are walking on dangerous territory. Man looks on the outward, but God looks on the heart-- and also knows the next steps in the journey we are on.

We must learn to not be so obsessed with what is going on right now- and focus on where God is leading us on this incredible journey of life.