Our enemy traffics in dark places, speaks words that no one else can hear, and lures us into traps that we haven’t comprehended. Here is the story of the world’s first murderer.
“Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:6-10)
Let’s go out to the field, which isn’t there in the earlier versions of the Bible. It is there with a footnote because it helps us understand what Cain said to his brother and why they were in the field.
But we don’t know what Cain said. In the original, that’s the point. But the voice of a brother got him into a place where he could be killed. There is a voice of the enemy that wants to close you down, finish you, to steal, kill, and destroy, and he will speak to you. He will use words that no one knows, but these are hidden. Secret words, he traffics in hidden places. But make no mistake, he wants you out in the field; he wants you to follow him, to be in a situation, a circumstance, where he can destroy you.
Sin is personified as a predatory animal, crouching, waiting for the opportune moment to pounce. Cain had a choice, God had warned him that he had, but he chose the wrong decision. His anger blinded him, and it led him to become the first murderer. Unresolved sin can very quickly devastate. Unbelievably, Cain showed no responsibility or remorse for his actions; somehow, he felt justified, and his heart was hardened.
There’s a haunting beauty in how Abel’s story connects to the larger biblical narrative. In Genesis 4:10, God tells Cain that Abel’s blood “cries out” from the ground. Later, in Hebrews 12:24, the author contrasts Abel’s blood with Christ’s blood, noting that Jesus’ blood “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
Abel’s blood cried out for justice; Christ’s blood speaks of mercy and forgiveness. Yet both testimonies emerge from faith—Abel’s faith in offering his best to God, and Christ’s faith in offering himself for our salvation.
Missions Paul 