God's Favor

"Adam was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have had a male child with the LORD's help." Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground. In the course of time Cain presented some of the land's produce as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also presented an offering -- some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent." [Gen 4:1-5 HCSB]

Observations

• Who did what? 
• Adam and Eve conceived children. 
• Eve gave birth to two sons. 
• Eve considered God her helper in the birthing process. 
• Cain became a farmer. 
• Abel became a shepherd. 
• Cain presented produce from the land as an offering to God
• Abel presented some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions as an offering to God. 
• The LORD had regard for Abel and his offering.
  The LORD did not have regard for Cain and his offering. 
• Cain was furious that God did not have regard for him or his offering and looked despondant. 
• What do the actions in this passage tell us about the people and/or God spiritually? 
• Both Cain and Abel had a desire to please God (they both voluntarily brought God an offering). 
• I also am thinking more deeply about what they did and what that might show us about them. Cain was a farmer. He produced things. He made things grow. His work would eventually lead to civilizations. Abel produced nothing. Abel instead took care of living things, things that God had created. Shepherding didn't necessarily lay the foundation to accomplish anything. When Cain brought his offering, he brought something he had worked hard on. When Abel brought his offering, I don't know that he had necessarily worked hard for it. The lambs would reproduce with or without him. That's not to say they didn't mean something to him. They probably meant a lot to him. They were the firstborn of the flock, and he brought their fat portions which were really valuable. 
• The LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but not for Cain or his offering. This seems to counter-intuitive to me. Cain put his sweat and blood into creating what he offered. I can see why he would be angry when it was rejected. But, God regarded Abel and his offering. Abel learned to take care of God's creation. This takes me back to God's command for Adam: "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth." [Gen 1:28 HCSB]. When I see God regarding or blessing Abel instead of Cain, I see God establishing expectations. God had commanded man to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. He had commanded them to rule over the fist of the sea and the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth. I think that Abel's chosen profession of shepherding fell more in line with this command than Cain's chosen profession of farming. (Now, some might argue that Cain was "subduing the earth," but I really wonder if that is a correct interpretation of what God meant when He said "subdue the earth," because working the ground was part of the curse and the consequence that came with Adam's disobedience. In fact, I really wonder what God meant when He commanded Adam to subdue the earth.) It seems to me that there is something here suggesting that Abel was following God's commands through shepherding more than Cain was in farming. 
• Cain was furious and looked despondent when God did not regard him or his offering. I probably would be too. Cain was a hard worker. It sounds like he was a typical firstborn, overachieving perfectionist. I can imagine that he took pride in his work and in his offering. I can empathize with feeling furious when his product was rejected and I can imagine feeling despondent and not feeling "good enough." 

Applications:

• Today, do people desire to please God (or their concept of God)? I would say, in my experience, yes. There are some religions where people even give up their life in a desire to please God. In most world religions, the premise is that if you work hard enough to be good enough you will please God and receive some type of reward in the after life. There are even some who would understand heaven this way for Christianity. To follow these religions is to express a desire to please God (along with a desire for a pleasurable afterlife experience). 
• Today, do people bring different offerings to God? I would say absolutely. To me the bringing of their offerings was an act of worship. Today, people worship God (or their concept of God) in a variety of ways. 
• Today, does God regard and favor some people and not others? I would say that Biblically, this is a yes. Biblically, the descendants of Abraham are favored and regarded by God. According to Ephesians there are also ways God shows his favor to those who believe in Jesus: 
• "For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.  We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in Him for the administration of the days of fulfillment -- to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him.  We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory.  When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory." [Eph 1:4-14 HCSB] 
• Today, does it still make the people that God does not show favor towards angry and despondent? I would argue: yes. 
• To me, the story of Cain and Abel is the story of world religions. It is two people desiring God. It is two people trying to please God.  But, you want to argue, there was so much good in Cain's work! There was so much good, and even selflessness in producing food... and you can argue the same for pretty much every world religion. It is the reality that just the desire to please God doesn't earn God's favor. It is the reality that hard work isn't what earns God favor. It is the lesson that aligning yourself with God's truth, commands, and values earns you God's favor.To me it is the predecessor of Jesus' words in John 14: 6: "Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

Thoughts, comments, observations, and other applications welcome.