Devotionals

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In order to understand what is meant by the Giants of Cain, we must remember that he was an offspring of Adam and Eve. Because Adam did not correct his wife and took the forbidden fruit, Satan gained access into not only Adam's but all human genealogy.

There are two areas in which Satan gains ground in our lives. One is involved with sacrifice itself. The other is intentional sin. Both can result in our being tormented just as Cain was all his life. One wouldn't think the act of worship could get us into trouble. But because Eve took the fruit, and Adam said nothing but also tasted the fruit, their eyes were opened. The original sin caused the original sacrifice, the true sacrifice. God covered their nakedness with the skins of animals. Blood had to be shed to cover them after their eyes were opened.

Along come Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve. Abel's sacrificed from the flock, like his dad. Cain did not participate. Introduce the first Giant; Self. Cain does his own thing. He isolates himself from his family. Introduce second Giant: man made religion. Just as Adam let Eve when she took the forbidden fruit, it is possible he didn't correct Cain when he made an improper sacrifice, when he refused to submit to instruction.

It could be Adam failed to educate Cain, but more likely, Cain was jealous. Introduce Giant number three: envy. These all cause a sort of chain reaction of Giants. Envy is at the root of idolatry. Remember the "Combo Number Five"? Bitterness leads to resentment; resentment leads to anger; anger leads to strife; strife leads to hatred; hatred leads to murder; these are only some of the "Giants of Cain". But the important thing to consider is unrestrained sin led to the ultimate sin in one generation. Cain killed Abel.

Yes, there were real giants in that day. Huge men with violent dispositions who wanted to take over the land and trained their offspring to do so by any means possible. Satan was their father. This is why Cain was sent to a protected place after his sacrifice was refused by God. These Giants would have killed him. But, these Giants were just bodies inhabited by the spirits that drove them. They belonged to Satan and his demons.

Why did Cain disobey his Maker? Did he think he knew better? He was tempted just like Eve. He may have been lazy. Did he just want to sacrifice what he grew from the ground and think it would suffice? Bottom line: the whole spirit in which Cain gave his offering was wrong. He was smug and proud that what he was doing was sufficient.

This is at the root of liberal Christianity. It becomes a bloodless religion. We follow God but don't need the difficult sacrifice of his only begotten son for us. We don't need the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The lambs that were slaughtered in the Old Testament were little family pets. The severity of this act was meant to bring those whose sins were covered into a realization that God takes sins seriously and wants us to be changed.

Our Father took our sins seriously enough to give up his only precious son to cover the sins of the whole world. This serves to bring conviction to our lives. But we ignore the Holy Spirit's tugging of our hearts. We try to please God in our own way, because it is humbling to accept Christ's sacrifice for us. We get on too many committees at church and then complain, because the person in charge, or one of our colleagues doesn't value us or our efforts.

Just as a wedge was driven between Cain and Abel, there are church fights over whether the money will be used for new pews or playground equipment. The meaning of the word, Cain, implies that his produce produced a human religion, one influenced by Satan, not God. It was his own effort, not Spirit led. It was the beginning of the occult. It makes sense when you read later in Galatians Paul's question about who had bewitched them. They were relying on their own works and not what God the Father did in covering them in the very blood of his only son.

How is all this important to us? We can let the Giants control our life by ignoring Christ's sacrifice for us. We can just do our "own thing" thinking we are doing a favor for God, and let it wear us down or bring an ungrateful heart. Or we can wait for the Holy spirit to show us what he wants us to do and let him empower us. We can also let unforgiveness stew in our hearts after the sun goes down. In not making it right with our brother who has wronged us or whom we have wronged, we can let the Giants have a party in our hearts. If the Giants are in control, we cannot obey Christ's command to forgive, and bigger, stronger Giants will come on board. When someone has been abusing us, we can talk to God about it. He cares about how we feel. Forgiveness is not a feeling or an option, but a command. We have to cry out to our Father, give our Giants to him, submit to the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who endured the cross, despising the shame for the joy that was set before him. He wants to help us forgive, not turn us over to the tormentors of Cain, those threatening and controlling Giants.

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