Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 207 · July 26
Lieth at the Door
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
In this verse God gives Cain a picture of sin: an animal lying outside a door. Imagine it has lain there so long that the grass is flattened, and it is waiting for the door to open.
The timing of that picture matters. Cain's offering has been passed over: "unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." Cain is very angry, and his face has fallen. Yet God comes to him with questions before any judgment: "Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" At this point a man is angry, and the door is still shut.
"And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." The Hebrew word behind "lieth" is a crouching word, used of an animal settling down to wait. So sin here has a body, a posture and a place where it waits.
The next clause is stranger: "And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." One chapter earlier, God said to the woman, "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." The same two words, desire and rule, come in the same order. Both times, something that wants a person is pressing its claim on them.
Cain opened the door: "when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." Sin had its way with him, and you can hear it in his answer when God asks where his brother is: "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"
The Hebrew of "thou shalt rule over him" can be read as a promise or as a command. Either way, God says it to a man who is already angry, so it is meant for the moment before the door opens. The New Testament says it with no doubt at all: "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." And again: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape." Whatever is crouching at your door today, God has promised that it does not have to rule you, and He gives you a way out before the door is opened.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 207 is He Will Answer (Psalm 86:7).