First Man Driven from God's Presence

9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said , I know not: Am I my brother's keeper ? 10 And he said , What hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; 12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. 13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me . 15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. - Genesis 4:9-15

"Godly sorrow leads to repentance." Cain never confessed, or repented of, killing his brother. He only became concerned when he considered that banishment from the Lord's presence could result in his own physical death. The wicked never confess or repent of their wicked deeds because they have no fear of, or reverence for, God. When we highly esteem the Lord, we will grieve over anything that we do that will displease Him. Our desire should be to please Him more than ourselves. The most acceptable sacrifices to God are "a broken spirit and a contrite heart."

Our first response to sin ought to be honest confession and repentance. Sadly, many of us will only confess the obvious sins, but rarely confess the less innocuous sins such as gossip, arrogance, lying or half-truths. The source of all sin is pride. When we believe that we know better than God how to live our Christian lives, we're destined to fall.

There are many Christians who do not understand the importance of spending time in God's presence more than one day a week, or one holiday a year. The less time we spend in God's presence, the more likely we are to live defeated lives as Christians. We need the Lord's presence, not only for protection against the enemy, but to grow as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you revere the Lord enough to spend time in His presence on a daily basis?

Cain only bemoaned the loss of the Lord's presence when he thought that his life would be endangered  by being outside of the Lord's presence. Why do you spend time with the Lord?  Do you seek the Lord's presence to please Him or to fulfill your "religious" duty?

Spending time in the Lord's presence involves much more than a sacrifice of time, talent or treasure whenever it's convenient for us. Time spent in the Lord's presence involves the daily study of His Word and time spent in daily prayer to ask Him to meet our needs, to confess and to repent of our sins and to praise and thank Him for who He is and what He has already done in our lives. As we spend more quality time in His presence, He transforms us to be more like our Lord, Jesus Christ.

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