Anger Is Destructive

Anger Is Destructive

Q: What did Cain do after God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected his?

• a. brought a new offering
• b. killed his brother
• c. cried out to God

Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a shepherd. Cain brought a gift of his crops to God, and Abel brought the best of the firstborn of his lambs. God accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.

Why did God reject Cain’s offering? We aren’t told exactly, but there are three possibilities. One is that it wasn’t the kind of offering God required. At times God asked for a blood offering. We don’t know if that’s what was required here or not. The Bible doesn’t say.

Another possibility is the offering was inferior. The Bible says Abel gave the best of the firstborn of his lambs, but it doesn’t say Cain gave his best.

The third possibility is that Cain’s heart was wrong. “We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous” (1 John 3:12). Cain was not living a life pleasing to God, and that may have been why his offering was rejected.

God told Cain he would be accepted when he did what was right, but Cain didn’t want to change his ways, so he turned his anger on his brother. One day when they were in the field, Cain attacked Abel and killed him. God banned Cain from his homeland. You can read about it in Genesis 4.

Cain’s heart was wrong, and it led to anger, jealousy, and finally murder. How much better it would have been for Cain to turn from his sin and live a righteous life so God could accept and bless him.

For You

God wants you to live a life that pleases him. Ask him to show you anything in your life that needs to be fixed, and then do whatever it takes to correct it.

Answer: b

One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.   Genesis 4:8

(The Whole Story: Genesis 4:1-16)