"And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden."
Genesis 4:16
Have you gone out from the presence of the Lord? Are you wandering in the land of Nod? Hebrew scholars tell us that "nod" means restlessness. Cain wandered in the land of no rest. Cain went out from God's presence to travel restlessly until he died. He found no satisfaction in anything he did, and he was cut off from the God who created him.
God never leaves His people. God never forsakes His people. But we can (and do) leave Him. We wander away enticed by false promises of success and satisfaction without God in our lives and quickly find those promises to be empty. When we experience the vanity that is life without God, do we return to the God who loves us? Or do we stray farther seeking success and satisfaction in some other way only to be disappointed again that we find no rest apart from God? Return to God! Seek God! He is the only way to find satisfaction and success.
Pastor Scott Dean
God has been very good to us. We have a tendency to focus on the negative and notice all the things that we lack rather than to see all the gifts that God has given us.
When we experience the vanity that is life without God, do we return to the God who loves us?
Rest comes from rejecting responsibilities that God does not intend for us and accepting God's yoke for us.
The answer to America's social ills is God's grace and Christian love.