It is very easy to want what someone else has. When we are without, we desire what we don’t have even more. It is the way of this world, even from the very beginning. Envy has been destructive from the beginning and Cain was the first to receive its gift of misery.
Genesis 4:1-7 KJV
1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 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.
There are two very important points that are made in these verses. 1, God tells Cain, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” Meaning that Cain is not required to make the type of sacrifices that Abel was making, and if he followed the commandments of God he would continue to do well. 2, Cain was envious of the blessings, or the outward acceptance that Abel was receiving from his sacrifices. Many times in our lives, mine included, we see others being blessed and we ask ourselves why is Heavenly Father not approving of my sacrifices or my work?
Often, we base our belief that God loves us or approves of us by the outward blessings that we receive. Lately, I have been hearing the story of the Gardner and the mulberry bush where Hugh B. Brown doesn’t receive a promotion in the Canadian Military because he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and he complains that he had been cut down. Like the mulberry bush the Gardner cuts down, Hugh B. Brown reflects that Heavenly Father has another path for him to take, where it leads to him having a prominent leadership position in the church. We think that our sacrifice is going to merit some worldly blessing from the Lord. If it is expected that when we only view sacrifice as a means to an outward reward, then we soon will become very disappointed; we do not always achieve that storied ending that tells the world that if you sacrifice then you will have worldly blessings.
This isn’t the case, and it won’t be the case the majority of the time. There are only a few individuals that are written about that have done such phenomenal works that they become legends. Or that people gain assignments that only one person can obtain at a time. How many apostles have passed away not being the President of the Church. Are their sacrifices any less than the President’s. We want to quantify our sacrifices, disappointments, and lack of worldly blessings, because we want them to mean something. I especially have a hard time when I think back on my career in the Air Force and my last assignment was to set up a work center that was shut down immediately upon my departure. It’s those moments where I think, I had wasted so much time and for what? I want my efforts to mean something, to have helped me onto greater things. However, experiences are just that, only experiences that help one grow closer to the Lord if they are willing.
I need to take the counsel of the Lord, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” I should take comfort in that. I do not need to do more than is required of me. If we think back to the Israelites, who were responsible for the Priesthood and the Temples? It was the Levites. Everyone else, all they had to do was, do well. And maybe that is the point in all of our trials and efforts in life, is for us to continue to do well, and trust in the Lord. Or we can be like Cain and accept envy’s gift of eternal misery.
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