Day 11

Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth...”—Cain, Ge. 4:16

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord,and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”—St. Augustine

Part of the judgment against Cain’s vicious murder of his brother, Abel, was to be cast from the presence of the Lord and become a restless wanderer on the earth. Whatever presence of God that remained after the banishment from Eden was now taken from Cain—a punishment he declared to be too much for him.

How sin robs us of the precious fellowship with our Lord!

All humankind now reaps the consequence of sin: a restless heart—an insatiable longing so deep and so disturbing that we can only be called vagabonds—until we fall helplessly into the arms of our Savior, our Prince of Peace.

The saddest day in the history of the nation of Israel was the day the presence of God lifted up from the Temple of Jerusalem and departed. Ezekiel looked in the Spirit and watched God’s majestic glory leave (Ezek. 10). The recalcitrant sin of the nation had driven Him away! The harlot had conceived an Ichabod—“the glory has departed” (1 Sa. 4:21). Can we expect anything less in a nation that has murdered so many innocent unborn? May God not so deal with us!

Sam Storm wrote, “We must swallow up the flicker of sin’s pleasure in the forest fire of holy satisfaction. The only thing that will ultimately break the power of sin is passion for Jesus. The only thing that will guard me from being entrapped by sin is being entranced by Jesus.”

This nation wants our prophets to prophesy “pleasant things” (IS. 30:10), but the message must echo the decrees from the Court of Heaven. Who will be a voice against the sin of this nation? Who will be the guide to lead us to the rest found only in Christ?

Prayer Topics: Repentance for Sin; Deliverance from Abortion; Restoration of a Godly Nation; Passion for Christ.