Who Is Your Master

There is a Hebrew word in Genesis 4:7 that has been the subject of discussion among scholars. In verse 7, God warns Cain, "If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door... but you must rule over it." The Hebrew word translated "rule" is timshol. Some understand it as expectation ("shall rule"), others as obligation ("must rule"), and others as capability ("may" or "can rule"). Whatever camp you land in, I don’t think it changes the message: God wants us to rule over sin.

Sometimes I struggle with that. Despite God’s warning, Cain let sin be his master. Too often there are times when life can be overwhelming and instead of turning to God we turn to sin. Afterwards, there’s always those moments where frustration sets in. Sometimes you feel worthless, like you can’t seem to do right. The devil is a liar…that’s how he wants you to feel. He wants you to throw in the towel. Some lines from one of my favorite songs read like this:

“Some days the devil baits a hook to see if I will bite

A lot of times it feels like I just can’t do right

But I know that God does,

Well, I know that God does…

When I lie awake at night, fed up with myself

And I wonder if I’m good enough for me or someone else

But I know that God does

Well, I know that God does.”

God’s warning to Cain is the same to us. Sin is crouching at the door, but through Christ you can rule over it.

Paul writes in Romans 7:22-25, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Don’t practice sin, but don’t let the devil convince you that you are defeated when you come up short. In Christ, you are a winner—not because you never stumble, but because Jesus has already won the victory. Don’t let the devil make you think otherwise. Don’t quit, don’t ever quit.

Rom 8:37-39: “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

- Caleb Bowen

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