Just one for today:
Genesis 4: 13-16: 'Cain said to the Lord, "my punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the eath, and whoever finds me will kill me." But the Lord said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no-one who found him would kill him.'
A couple of weeks back, in my workplace Christian Union meeting, another Christian was talking to me about how loving and gracious God is when non-Christian friend in the room cockily replied "except in the first half of the Bible". I knew where he was coming from: when I was young in my own faith I felt there was very little to learn from reading the Old Testament, which showed a lot of anger, wrath, pestilence and death, but now I know just how wrong I was. Here, in these verses, we see yet another example of how God is gracious and giving; even in our own sin, still God provides, and in his punishment he still gave Cain what he needed. Just like the skins he made for Adam and Eve, God has mercy and stays with us - works for our good, no matter what we have done! What a gracious God!
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