November 20: Hebrews 11 4

Key Verse: Hebrews 11 4
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

Devotion:
Right from the beginning of time, we find some people have stood up for the truth. And right from that time we find people have been persecuted for standing up for the truth. Right from that time we find people have been brought to evil deeds by the anger that they have against the truth. And as from that time too, we find the truth only seems to come out after evil has done its deed. Even though the truth and righteous may not have physically survived, it is made even stronger through death.

Nowadays we find the terrorists trying to do all sorts of things in our lives, trying to destroy things around us, trying to destroy us. Each act they carry out further strengthens our resolve to fight the evil. For so long as we continue to have faith in the truth, we continue to grow stronger, knowing others will continue to see the truth so long as we uphold it.

When Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices (Genesis 4 3-5) we find that God was pleased with Abel's sacrifice, but not with Cain's. The words used in this passage show that Abel offered his firstlings of his flock because of his faith. It seem a bit disconcerting to kill off the firstlings when that is exactly what you are trying to do – to raise a new flock. But because Abel showed God that he had faith God would provide, that he had faith God was already providing; he had the uttermost respect for the God of everything – because of all that, God was pleased.

Cain, on the other hand, tried to give God the best that he himself could do. Cain worked with his hands to try and make something that was worthy to be given to God. That is one thing that we have to admit to – nothing we can do is good enough for God. It is only the fact that we submit to Him 100% that we are able to find His favour.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you actually fully trust someone else?

Will you fully and wholly trust God?