More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP: Gen 4; 9-10 Find a Way
The blood of innocents cries out from the ground. From Abel's murder to today's abortion crisis, God hears these voices even when we try to silence them.
Dr. Robert "Papa" Jackson delivers a powerful devotional exploring Genesis 4:9-10, where God confronts Cain with the question "Where is your brother Abel?" This seemingly simple question unveils profound truths about accountability, moral responsibility, and our tendency to hide from our sins. Drawing from Psalm 139, Dr. Papa reminds us that nothing escapes God's all-seeing presence – a sobering reality for wrongdoers but a comforting assurance for the righteous.
When faced with our failures, we stand at the same crossroads as Cain – choose humble confession or prideful rebellion. Dr. Papa compassionately observes how this ancient pattern repeats in our communities when believers disappear from church life following moral failures, addiction struggles, or personal tragedies. Yet reconnection requires just one step, regardless of how far we've strayed.
The devotion takes a powerful turn as Dr. Papa addresses America's abortion crisis, noting that 61 million unborn lives have been lost since 1973, with 30-40 babies dying daily in South Carolina alone. With pastoral wisdom, he calls Christians to embrace their responsibility as their "brother's keeper" through concrete actions: supporting crisis pregnancy centers, contacting legislators about specific pro-life legislation, and praying for spiritual awakening among leaders.
This message isn't just biblical exposition – it's a heartfelt call to compassionate action rooted in scriptural conviction. If you're seeking biblical guidance on moral responsibility in today's complex world, this devotion offers both challenging truth and practical wisdom. Subscribe, share, and join us next week for more insights that bridge ancient scripture with contemporary challenges.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr Robert Jackson.
Speaker 2:Papa, can you tell me a story?
Speaker 1:Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Gather around and grab your Bibles and let's look into the written Word, which reveals to us the living Word, who is our Lord, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Today we're in Genesis, chapter 4, verses 9 through 10. Let me begin by reading. Then the Lord said to Cain when is Abel, your brother? And he said I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? He said what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. Where is Abel, your brother?
Speaker 1:First, understand that all things are open and laid bare before him, with whom we have to do, with him, with whom we have to give account. Nothing is hidden from the omniscient, all-seeing eye of God. In Psalms 139, the scripture tells us O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways, even before there is a word on my tongue behold, o Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me.
Speaker 1:Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too high. I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say surely, the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. You see, brothers and sisters, there's no way, nowhere you and I can go to flee from the presence of God, and there's nowhere that Cain could go that God did not know where he was. There was nothing he could do to hide his sin from God. Knowing this should give pause to the evildoer, but it also gives comfort to the righteous, for the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro throughout the earth, seeking whose heart is fully devoted to him, that he may show himself strong on their behalf.
Speaker 1:Cain knew these things well. His mind and heart were not obscured by generations of inherited sin. He was just one step removed from the Garden of Eden, but his judgment was already clouded by his personal sin. He had two choices he could humble himself and confess his sin, as did Adam, his father, or he could bow up in rebellion, as we so often do. When confronted with our sin, isaiah the prophet said confronted with our sin, isaiah the prophet said if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If I nurture and coddle and protect a sin in my heart, it will drive me away from God. Confession and repentance will draw me near to God. How did this play out in Cain's life? He came to the place of sacrifice. He brought a lamb instead of vegetables. He humbly confessed his sin and made things right between him and God. No, sorry, that's not what happened. God had to come looking for Cain to bring him to account for the murder of his brother.
Speaker 1:How many times have you and I seen this play out? I remember when I was in college that there were two college kids that were leaders in a college campus Christian organization and all of a sudden the both of them just disappeared and they were gone for three or four months and nobody knew where they were. And they were gone for three or four months and nobody knew where they were and then it came out that the young man had gotten the young lady pregnant and that's why they just suddenly dropped out of the Christian ministry. They just dropped out of sight. How many times have you seen active Christian church members suddenly just disappear from Christian ministry, only later to find out that one of them had had an affair and now they were ashamed and embarrassed to be members of the local church? How many times have you seen a couple purchase a beach house or a mountain house and no longer be active in the life of the church because they had to go to the beach house every weekend. They had to go to the mountain house every weekend? How many times have you seen a couple where one or the other had become addicted to alcohol or drugs or sedatives after one of their children was suddenly killed in some kind of motor vehicle accident or some other accident and all of a sudden they drop out of the church, drop out of Christian ministry because of their personal addiction to alcohol or sedatives, because of that sudden death in the family. We see things like that play out in our own lives or the lives of somebody close to us.
Speaker 1:Folks don't know how to come back to God. Hear me when I say it doesn't matter how far or how long we have walked away from God. It only that one step. So when God asked Cain, where is your brother Abel? God is not looking for information, he's looking for a confession. And rather than humbly confessing, cain pridefully bows up and he lies to God's face saying I don't know, knowing full well where his brother's dead body lay. Then he challenged God's right to even ask the question, to even question him, by saying am I my brother's keeper? You understand now what Isaiah meant about regarding about nurturing sin in our hearts and how it hardens our hearts and separates us from God and prevents our good judgment. A loving God may have intended to extend mercy and loving kindness if Cain confessed and repented, but all that dried up with Cain's harsh response. Now Cain receives judgment. Cain could ignore the prophetic, truth-telling voice of his brother Abel, but the voice of his blood crying out from the ground could not be silenced, and holy God heard the voice of his brother's blood crying out from the ground. Cain suffered a severe punishment for shedding innocent blood. He was banished from civil society by God, himself, destined to be a vagabond and a wanderer. In the book of Proverbs, god lists seven deadly sins, a list of seven things that God hates. On that list is hands that shed innocent blood.
Speaker 1:If you read the prophets, like Isaiah and Ezekiel, you will comprehend that God brought judgment on Israel in part because of shedding innocent blood. One particularly odious thing they practiced was child sacrifice, making their children pass through the fire as a sacrifice to Molech the pagan god of the Ammonites. God thundered through the prophets that such a thing never even entered into his mind. Well, we in America have allowed 61 million unborn citizens to be murdered by abortion since 1973. Sacrifice to the God of convenience. How many times have my patients told me they were obtaining an abortion because it was simply not convenient to be pregnant at this time? They willingly murdered an unborn human being to salvage a high school soccer career or a college scholarship or their family reputation, and the voice of their child's blood cried out from the ground.
Speaker 1:In South Carolina, 30 to 40 babies die by abortion every day, 3,000 plus nationally every day, and their blood cries out from the ground. God hates the shedding of innocent blood. God hates abortion. Abortion breaks the great heart of God. If 30 to 40 children died in South Carolina every day due to a faulty medication or sex trafficking or motor vehicle accidents, our state leaders would be up in arms. But no one seems to care that 30 plus unborn citizens die every day by abortion, either surgical or medical, and their blood cries out from the ground.
Speaker 1:I would suggest to you, very humbly and very respectfully, that the church needs to repent of uncaring and we need to repent of our uncaring and our inaction. We need to talk to Jesus about where we can fit in. We need to talk to Jesus about finding our niche in protesting the killing of unborn citizens in South Carolina. We need to call our legislators and say to them find a way. I remember when I was in high school my football coach would say to us at halftime if we were behind he would say boys, find a way.
Speaker 1:In South Carolina we have a pro-life Republican majority in both the House and the Senate. They all ran on a pro-life Republican platform and there's no reason why our legislature should not end abortion in South Carolina. We should write to them kindly and respectfully and say to them find a way to end abortion in South Carolina. We should say to them that they should support Senator Cash's pro-life bill, which would do just that. All of us should support our local crisis pregnancy centers, either with a financial donation or as volunteers, and we should pray daily to end abortion in our state. And we should pray for spiritual awakening amongst our legislators, amongst our pastors and spiritual leaders, because, trust me, it's going to take a spiritual revival in the state of South Carolina for us to see the leadership in our state rise up in righteous indignation and bring an end to the killing of unborn children in our state.
Speaker 1:Cain said I don't know where he is and am I my brother's keeper? Listen to me, dear listener. You and I, we are our brother's keeper. We are responsible as Christian people for the unborn citizens in the womb. Our legislators are in a position of responsibility, a position of power, and they are responsible for the 30 to 40 children who die every day in this state. They have the power to put an end to that and they cannot just look God in the face and say am I my brother's keeper and we need to call them to account. Pray that God would change their hearts, call them and say to them find a way. You're listening to Devotions with Dr Papa. If you like what you hear, I pray that you would call a friend and suggest to them that they would listen in, follow, like or share, and we'll be back again next week. And until then, may the Lord bless you real good. Thank you for listening. May the Lord bless you real good.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. Also, don't forget to check out Dr Jackson's books that are available on Amazon. The Family Doctor Speaks the Truth About Life in his first book, and the Family Doctor Speaks the Truth About Seed Planting Equipping Believers for Evangelism is his second. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Productions.
