When God Doesn't Accept What We Offer

When Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord, Cain brought “an offering of the fruit of the ground” and Abel brought “of the firstborn of his flock” (Ge 4:4). The Lord, “respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering” (Ge 4:4-5).

There have been a lot of debates about why God accepted one, but not the other, but let’s just leave it at what is said: God did and didn’t accept them. Now what? Whether we understand why, isn’t really the point. The more serious question is: How do we respond when God doesn’t accept what we offer? What do we do when we want to do something, but God says, “No”?

Cain famously responded poorly. First, “Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell” (Ge 4:5). Later, his jealously drove him to kill his brother Abel. We would never respond like this, or would we?

Giving what God wants, not what we want to give. I can think of reasons for why Cain would want to give God his vegetables. He was a farmer and that’s what farmers have, and it’s what they produce and value. It WAS a sacrifice for Cain and it WAS given to God! But that’s not all that matters. The will of God matters. Do we check on what God wants as reveled in His word before we give to Him and worship Him and offer Him service? Are we giving what we want, what we like, what we value or what God says He wants? Will God accept what we offer?

How do we respond when God doesn’t accept what we offer? Do we get angry like Cain when we find out that God doesn’t accept what we try to give Him? God said to Cain (and to us), “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” (Ge 4:6-7). Getting angry and pouting doesn’t change the will of God. If God doesn’t accept what we offer, we need to change what we offer and not blame God.

Warning: Sin is close! Cain’s offering of vegetables isn’t called sin. God didn’t respect it (he should have offered animals like Abel). However, when God saw that Cain didn’t respond positively to this learning experience, but negatively, God said, “And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Ge 4:7). In other words, Cain’s negative response would lead to sin if he didn’t control it. Anger and pride don’t draw us closer to God (Ja 1:20). Humility and submission bring us to serving God as He wills, and repenting and changing when we do something contrary to His will. We want to know what He wants and offer to Him what He wants.

The unthinkable. Cain didn’t rule over his anger and did the unthinkable. Cain murdered his brother “because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous” (1 Jn 3:12). Our selfish, jealous, pride can cause us to do unthinkable things if we don’t draw near to God and His will, so He will draw near to us (Ja 4:8). So, what do we do when God doesn’t accept what we give?  dd