Desire

“sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it” Genesis 4:7

Desire – Why should we be stewards of our emotions?  Who cares how we feel as long as we behave correctly?  Ah, there is a deep answer here, but it is not the answer we might expect.  God does not tell Cain that he must master his emotions in order to please God.  He gives him a much more immediate and serious warning.  Sin wants to eat you alive and it will use your emotions to spring the trap!

This Hebrew word (teshookaw) is quite rare.  It is used only three times in the Bible (Genesis 3:16, 4:7 and Song of Solomon 7:10).  In the other two occurrences, it is about sexual desire.  Intense.  Ravenous.  Consuming.  But in this context, watch out!  It’s the ferocity of a wild beast hunting prey and it wants you dead!

Sin kills.  Why?  Because the purpose of sin is death.  Death is not just the accidental result of sin.  It’s far more than that.  The only reason that sin exists is to bring about death by separating you from God.  Sin wants to tear you apart like a wild animal.  It wants you to bleed and suffer because you are no good as a meal while you have life.  Sin sees you only as prey.  Imagine sin as a terrible beast, ready to destroy you and you will get a much better picture.

We are far too complacent about sin.  We hear the metaphor but we minimize the image.  We are deceived.  We are comfortable.  We think that we have things under control.  The Bible takes a very different view.  Sin is nothing to fool with.  It is dangerous, lethal, treacherous and cruel.  But it is also clever.  It “crouches” at the door, as if asleep, waiting, waiting for just that right moment when we forget we are stewards and begin to think we are owners.  No wonder the Bible tells us to flee from it.

Re-think the imagery.  This is no game.  If you’re going to wander in the wilderness, you better have a protector.  Eyes are watching, waiting.