Abel was a keeper of sheep. Genesis 4:2
RECOMMENDED READING Genesis 4:1-16 “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?7 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.8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.15 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”
COMMENTS: Abel was a shepherd, so was able to offer the specified type of sacrifice to God on the altar. However, Cain was a farmer so only had grain and vegetables to offer since that was what he grew. He should have traded his brother vegetables for a sacrificial sheep so his sacrifice too would be accepted. God’s instruction was clear but Cain didn’t believe or accept God’s instruction and tried to force his ideas on God. He was jealous of his brother, Abel, and let his anger pull him from a relationship with God and vulnerable to even more severe temptations from satan. He didn’t know nor understand the peril or consequences he we as moving to. Death was not known nor understand yet but God had already warned Abel’s and Cain’s parents (Adam and Eve) death would be in their future.
We can conclude not only was Abel’s sacrifice acceptable to God but so was his heart and relationship with God. That was probably what upset Cain too. Cain could have repented of his jealousy and anger and submitted himself to God seeking forgiveness. God was ready to forgive and restore a relationship both with Abel and with Himself. If had done so, Abel would have been alive and Cain would not have faced a lifetime of being a fugitive and nomad. He would never see his parents or brother again.
Abel died forgiven of his sins but didn’t die because of his own sins. He did endure death because of the sin of his parents and was the first victim of murder at the hand of his angry brother. Cain was not justified in his anger nor in his sin. He made matters worse by allowing his anger to drive his mind and actions.
Why did God let Cain kill Abel? For that matter, why did He let Eve and then Adam be tempted knowing the consequences of that sin to them and to every generation since? Well, since we’re not God, the answer is mostly unanswered and beyond our comprehension. But we do know God warned them and gave them freedom to choose right from wrong and did, and continues to, define limits on ways and level of temptation they and we face and endure. He does not allow more temptation to them, nor to us, than can be endured or withstood. A way of overcoming or escape is always provided.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Cain had a way of escape as did Eve and Adam but they chose not to take it nor go to God first for council or help. They chose to turn from God thinking they knew better. BUT THEY DID NOT. But satan did and tempted them deliberately knowing full well God would judge their sin and actions. Satan lied to them but God didn’t.
Abel died on that fateful day and God sought out Cain to confront him. God said “Abel’s blood was crying out for justice”. God passed on a judgment of not immediate death but shunning from other family and people. He faced loneliness and rejection that would be for him far worse than the rejection of his sacrifice. When he heard what God said, he was overwhelmed with magnitude of that judgment and feared death too. But God spared his life but left him to learn remorse and regret for his actions.
Cain complained that his punished was too great to bear. He complained instead of seeking God’s forgiveness and buying a sacrificial sheep to receive God’s mercy. He likely was remorseful when realized what he had done, but we have no confirmation of that in scripture. Asking forgiveness is such a simple thing to do but so foreign of us. Why are we so resistant? Why do most go into eternity without taking advantage of Christ’s gift of redemption simply because they didn’t ask for it. They didn’t have His gift because they didn’t accept it and open it. Whose fault is that? God couldn’t have made forgiveness any easier for us to receive and at great cost and difficulty for Himself. How tragic for those who needlessly go into eternity lost. How sad for our Lord who’s sacrifice goes unused by so many. There is still time before His return. We need to help get the Word out. AMEN? AMEN!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 349 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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