What happens when a person chooses evil over good? Does God ever allow it? Does He ever just give you what you want? (Strictly speaking, since God ordains all things, He is effectively giving you what you want even when it’s against His better judgement.) The answer is, “Yes!”
 
The more important question is, do we ever get away with evil? The answer is “No!” This is a lesson we learn early in the Bible.
 
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
-Genesis 3:17-19
 
When Adam chose against God’s will in the Garden of Eden, by his actions he was saying, “I think my way is better than yours, Lord.” Is this not the very same thing that we say whenever we choose to sin? Indeed, it is.
 
Cain exhibited this same evil. He chose to work the land in order to cultivate a sacrifice to God, essentially saying, “I think the sacrifice I worked for, against your will, is good even though You desire something else.” Cain’s assertion of self-righteousness is consistent with the times when we decide our own works are good even though God disagrees.
 
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
 
In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
 
Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
 
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
-Genesis 4:1-16
 
Let me point out three key elements in this passage. First, Cain was a “worker of the ground,” namely, a cursed ground already associated with man’s first assertion of self-righteousness. Second, Cain took it one step further by offering the fruit of his labor from the ground to God when God desired something different (Cain was functioning in an entirely anti-grace-oriented sphere). Third, as a result, God took away his ability to use his labor from the ground to assert himself. Ultimately, he was driven away from that which he derived his self-esteem. There’s a really, really big lesson hidden here…I hope you don’t miss it!
 
This lesson is one that Jesus spoke of in a parable.
 
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
-Matthew 25:29
 
God will allow man to assert himself, but beware, God is never mocked (Galatians 6:7). If the Bible teaches us anything on this subject, it’s that the more we persist in self-righteousness the deeper the hole we dig (Cain is a perfect example). God will continue to remove His blessings from us until we learn our lesson. If you’re a child of God (a believer), He promises to do you this favor as an expression of His love (He wants you to repent and be delivered from your self-righteous self-esteem – Hebrews 12:6). If you refuse to learn, at some point He may choose to remove you from planet Earth altogether (1 John 5:16).
 
In the case of unbelievers, God treats them similarly in the sense that He shows them grace and affords them the opportunity to repent. At some point, though, He hands them over completely to their unholy desires.
 
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
 
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
-Romans 1:21-25
 
When God gives you something you want that is evil, He’s using the situation to teach you a lesson. If you’re humble, you learn that His ways are always better than your own. If you’re a slow learner, just be prepared to gird your loins like Job had to (Job 38, 40) and be ready to receive your just punishment. That punishment is designed to annihilate your self-esteem. Don’t worry, though, He will supplant it with Christ-esteem, which is a far superior, transcendent way to live!
 
For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
-Colossians 3:25
 
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
-Revelation 3:19

Love in Christ,

Ed Collins