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leaving GOD

Genesis 4:16
"And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden."

The FIRST murder was shocking! Cain did NOT want to follow GOD'S plan and did NOT like seeing his brother succeed by GOD'S plan. In today's verse we get an idea of Cain's fate. Moving Cain “east of Eden” suggests that he was removed further from the garden than Adam and Eve were. Cain left God’s presence, and he lived the rest of his life alienated from God. His fate was to live the life of an outsider. As a "fugitive and a vagabond."

The word "Nod," in Hebrew, means “wanderer, exile, or fugitive.” Some Bible scholars believe that Nod is not an actual place; rather, it's symbolic for Cain not having a place to call home. It was Cain's choice to live outside the presence of God. This is the way it is for all of us when we choose to SIN. We are separating ourselves from GOD. We will lose all sense of belonging and identification with the community of Christians. We might journey so far away that we try to build a godless community, but it will always be missing GOD and incomplete, even unfulfilling. And, whether it's Cain or one of us; GOD remains ever hopeful like the father in the prodigal son parable, waiting and watching for the SINNER to repent and return home.
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