Coach God

How do you respond to this interaction between Cain and God? What words would you use to describe the way God treats Cain here?

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.  And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,  but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.  Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?” - Gen. 4:2b-6

Perhaps this short passage offers us something of a Rorschach test - what we see may be as much about what we expect to see as it is about what’s actually there. When you were growing up, how did the people in authority in your life (parents, esp., perhaps also grandparents, teachers or pastors) tend to respond when you made a mistake*? Did they ignore it or respond to you about it? Did you sense real care and understanding from them, or a lack of empathy? You could plot your response on the care/challenge axis below (one of the shapes we talk about pretty frequently at City Church). Then plot how you sense God acting with Cain in this passage. Do the two perhaps match?

* We’re taking it as a given here that Cain made a mistake - understanding why exactly it was a mistake gets complicated, though our friend Lisa Sharon Harper in The Very Good Gospel sums it up as a question of trust.

It’s easy to read God’s interaction with Cain as all challenge and no care - but overwhelmingly that’s not the picture of God we have in the Bible. Even in this passage, God quickly moves into coaching Cain, inviting him to stop and listen to what’s going in his heart, to deal with his inner reality. He’s living out this description in Romans 2:

God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

Who have the best coaches in your life been, those who’ve cared for you and challenged you at the same time? How would it affect your relationship with God if you could imagine God as essentially like that coach in your life, but even wiser, even more loving? What might that God want to talk about with you this morning? Take a few minutes to mull this over with Jesus.