If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee [shall be] his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. -- Genesis 4:7 (KJV).
What struck me was this phrase "if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." It is clear that this is an early place in the scriptures where we are given a formula for dealing with sin. More specifically it is a warning about the nature of sin. Sin is an active force which envelopes our lives with no real action required on our part. I then began to key in on the words "if thou doest not" -- notice this is a passive phrase. Nothing is required to bring about sin. So often we think in terms of what actions to avoid or activities to shun in order to keep sin out of our lives. However, as early as in the days of Cain and Abel with no illegal drugs lurking, no Internet or television, no gang violence, no wars, no "bad crowd" to speak of, no dark places to stay away from, still God warns "sin lieth at the door."
It's interesting to note that although the word "sin" occurs 448 times in the King James Bible it is mentioned here in Genesis 4:7 for the first time. There is always something interesting to gleam from the first mentioning of something in the scriptures. I'm beginning to see this passage as God's primer on sin and it is a very important first lesson. It appears that God is impressing upon Cain (and all of mankind through the scripture) that sin is not some sort of booby trap which can snare us if we make the wrong move. Instead sin is more like the atmosphere which surrounds us, becoming part of the air we breath. Just sitting dormant in the atmosphere of sin is enough to become infected with its sickness. The admonition is more a call to action, to "do well" and not sit still and less a warning of what not to do. You can't make up a list long enough of what not to do to avoid sin. But, you can list a single thing which guarantees falling into sin -- do nothing!
So the point to gain here is sitting still is spiritual suicide. Of course there are so many lessons in the scriptures which teach us this point over and over. Many of these lessons are found in the 447 other times the word "sin" is mentioned and in yet even more places which do not specifically mention the word "sin" but directly deal with its nature. Many, to be sure, warn of certain activities and enumerate the various abominations to God so we can clearly see sin at work. However it is the very nature of sin abstracted from its many manifestations which is the hardest for us to grasp. The whole concept of sin seems elusive to our day to day, physical lives which is why it is so very helpful to have the many teachings from the scripture regarding sin. More importantly, we have the Holy Spirit which resides with the saints to shake us from our earthly tethers from time to time and remind us of what is real -- even though we cannot see it in the flesh.
It never ceases to amaze me how much information is compressed into even the most basic text in the scriptures. Even after hundreds of readings a new lesson can emerge. How many times have I read or thought about this passage in Genesis and not quite grasped the significance of what God was saying to Cain. You don't need to act to fall into sin. In fact it is "inaction" which renders you vulnerable. We learn this right from the start in Genesis 4! It would be the first of so many powerful lessons presented throughout the scriptures for us to receive.
