cain

This brief article examines the word “WHY” as it is used in 3 very notable, specific passages. One from our Old Testament and two from the New Testament Scriptures. While the word, “WHY” is generally used by humans to question, to protest, or even to demand explanations, in this article, we will consider its use from the Lord as He addresses specific individuals.

God questions Cain in Genesis 4:6 . . . “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?” Here, in one of the Bible’s earliest narratives, God Himself poses two questions for a man to answer … interrogating Cain about his current emotional state and his spiritual condition. Initially, most of would defend him due to the fact that the Lord, “had no regard” for his offering (See Genesis 4:5). However, these questions are penetrating, perhaps even pastoral, inviting some much-needed reflection and self-evaluation / examination! This divine “WHY” establishes what undoubtedly was intended to be bidirectional dialogue as the Lord offered both uplifting spiritual direction and a path to healing.

“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Genesis 4:7

How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you.

Psalm 128:1-2

As we all know, Cain failed to heed the Lord’s instruction and proceeded down his own path of destruction, committing the first intentional homicide (aka 1^st degree murder / felony) in human history!

At the empty tomb of Christ, when the women arrive with certain spices to complete the proper burial process for Christ’s body, they encounter 2 of the Lord’s angels who asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (See Luke 24:1-5). Here, once again, “WHY” comes from the heavenly realm, but here it clearly challenges typical human understanding! The process of death, burial, and mourning is / was the norm. However, the women are seeking to find the body of Jesus Christ in a place where He cannot be found! The resurrection of Jesus Christ completely shattered their human expectations. The angels’ question openly exposes the severe breach between human expectations / reasoning and divine purposes (reality according to God’s perspective). Remember, the Lord had plainly declared His own future suffering, execution / death and resurrection! (Study Matthew 12:40, 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:18-19; Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34; Luke 9:22, 18:31-33; John 2:19-22, John 10:17-18) This is a gentle rebuke, not a casting of judgment upon their lack of faith or understanding, but yet, a profound, theological eternal truth! Herein lies an absolutely, irreversible, life-changing moment for these ladies, but also for every human being!

On the Damascus road, the risen Christ Jesus continues with the “WHY” questioning of human beings. Saul, breathing threats and murder against the Lord’s followers (aka “the Way” – See Acts 9:1-2), is shocked by a flashing light from heaven and falls to the ground while hearing a distinct voice: “Saul, Saul, WHY are you persecuting me?” (see Acts 9:4). In this biblical text, the “WHY” functions as a direct confrontation, demanding that Saul give an account for his own actions / activities! Apparently, this question from heaven to earth transforms the persecutor into the faithful apostle Paul. His anger and violence transformed into the mission … The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20! Please note, this “WHY,” offered simultaneously, is an accusation coupled with a life-changing, purpose-driven invitation.

These three passages, spanning from Genesis to the Gospel account of Luke, and the book of Acts (which records the early activities of God’s Holy Spirit working in and through Christ followers), reveal something essential about New Testament, biblically-based faith! “WHY”-– is actually the Lord God challenging us, probing our hearts, challenging our assumptions, and confronting our sins. This small word is effectively used where human understandings or misunderstandings collide with divine reality — exactly where our comfortable human certainties break down, allowing incredible changes to become possible. Whenever the Lord asks you “WHY,” He is standing ready to work in ways we can’t even grasp or begin to imagine with in the limited realm of our frailed human thinking!

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:9

So one asks, “WHY” Mission Trip 2026? Well, thanks for asking (demanding an explanation)! The answer is actually pretty simple. We are all called to be Christ’s witnesses.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

Therefore, our Primary Mission Trip 2026 objective is introducing children and young adults (youth students) to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men (human beings) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

I Timothy 2:3-4

As a secondary purpose, we hope to experience the dynamic power of youth students, young adults and adults serving the Lord in unity as one cohesive team.

“Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.“

Romans 15:5-7

You can:

Still Join The Team – We really need someone to lead the VBS crafts (our previous leader has had to drop out due to family illness) and there are still other places to serve.
Help Out – Volunteer to help us on Friday or Saturday (daytime or evening)
Pray – Sign up on Sunday at church.
Give – Fund scholarships or specific needs. (See Attached Updated Mission Trip 2026 Info)

“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.“

Galatians 6:9-10

Just call me! 832-419-9349

Biblically, the record of agricultural pursuits begins with our Lord’s mandate to humanity in Genesis 2:15:

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

Adam was charged initially with two responsibilities … 1) cultivating the garden and 2) keeping the garden. In addition, we know that the immediate post-Edenic situation featured both the agricultural and the herdsman way of life as represented by Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:2:

And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Before long came Enoch who built a city in Genesis 4:17, musicians in Genesis 4:21, and Tubal-Cain, a forger of all implements in bronze and iron in Genesis 4:22.

E.K.V. Pearce, in his work, “Who Was Adam?” suggests that this period represents that era known to anthropologists as the “New Stone Age Revolution,” introducing farming and horticulture into human society with archaeological evidence of early farming being found in the lower Jordan River Valley around Jericho. However, there is no biblical evidence demanding a separation of the age of hunter-gatherers and the age of farmers-herdsmen. Apparently, God established the latter at the outset of His creation even though modern day anthropologists, not unsurprisingly, take a contrarian view in opposition to the divine revelation of scripture, holding that the hunter-gatherers had to come first.

It’s also interesting to note that rudimentary agricultural tools, flint sickle and hoe blade, were discovered in the Carmel caves (located on Mt. Carmel of the biblical text in Israel some 20 kilometers from the City of Haifa), which obviously depicts the on-going responsibilities of cultivating and/or keeping/maintaining crops/gardens. Nonetheless, the biblical account indicates that farming was not the prominent profession of Seth and the chosen bloodline . . . Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all being herdsmen. However, Lot seems to have preferred the settled life of a Jordan Valley farmer according to Genesis 13:10-13:

Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the Valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere … like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. So Lot chose for himself all the Valley of the Jordan, … Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.

It’s too often said of Adam and Eve that in their pre-sin/pre-fallen state they didn’t or weren’t required to work. While it is absolutely true that they didn’t have to eat bread by the sweat of their face as described in Genesis 4:19, work itself was originally ordained by God Himself for all humanity with God being the initial, leading, ultimate, perfect, and prime example! Accordingly:

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (see Genesis 2:1-3)

Sounds like God was busy at work, establishing the opportunity to work/labor as a God-ordained task and vehicle of blessing for all human beings. Perhaps that’s why Paul’s address to the Thessalonians is so blunt:

If anyone is not willing to work, then he/she is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. (See II Thessalonians 3:10-13)

Now Labor Day, when Americans pay tribute to the those in the work force, has come and gone, but that shouldn’t stifle gratitude for our Lord’s marvelous design … work! Let’s be thankful for the opportunities afforded us of gainful employment, always remembering the admonition found in Colossians 3:23-24:

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

Therefore, here’s my somewhat difficult challenge for those desiring to be imitators of Christ. Today, will you take a moment and thank God for your job, even if it’s not so perfect and even if you’re totally disgruntled and unfulfilled? You are fulfilling His design and purposes, accomplishing that which can glorify Him and bring blessings to your life. He has placed you right there, right now, so even if you hate it, seek to know Him deeper and more completely in and through your current situation/opportunity!

Think about it, Pastor Frank aka PF

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