I’m in the process of reading through the Bible again. And as I began, a verse from Genesis 4:7 got my attention. It says:
“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Another version says, “but you must rule over it”. Even as early as the days of Cain and Abel, God explains about sin. If it were easy to control our sinful desires, most everyone would be sin free. But the truth is that it isn’t easy, especially for those of us who are being mastered by it. God tells Cain that he must master, or rule over, sin; that it is crouching at his door and that it desires to have him. Although it isn’t easy to rule over sin, at least we know where it is. It is at our door step. I believe there is truth to the phrase, “knowing is half the battle”. Sin shouldn’t always take us by surprise. If we know where it is, we should be able to prepare for it. And if we can prepare for it, we should be able to rule over it. I don’t believe that we can, or even have to, do this on our own. The Holy Spirit is there to help us every step of the way.
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God tells Cain that sin is crouching at his door, that it desires to have him, but that he must master, or rule over, it. I believe this is a verse that we can apply to our lives as well. Right after this verse we read that Cain kills Abel out of envy. Let us not have these words fall on deaf ears, but let’s take them to heart. God wouldn’t tell us that we must rule over sin if it weren’t possible. Even if it feels impossible through your own efforts, remember another biblical truth; that nothing is impossible with God. I encourage you to pray to him about any sin that has mastered you. The Holy Spirit can help turn the tables if you really want things to be different.