If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." Genesis 4:7
The word translated "desire" in this verse is from a root word that has "the original sense of stretching out after." It means "a longing -- desire."1 Sin is crouching, or lying, in your doorway and it is longing for you.
The Hebrew word is used only twice in the Bible in this form. The other is Song of Songs 7:10, "I belong to my lover, and his desire (longing) is for me." Sin is longing for us, but God is longing for us too. The ancient conflict.
1 Peter 5:8 says, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." The word translated "looking for" also has the meaning of desiring, even craving. Satan's lie is always that God doesn't desire or care about or love us. "Satan mounted his rebellion [of the angels] through the power of one idea: God doesn't have a good heart."2 Satan said to Eve "You will not surely die ... For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4-5). In other words, the lie is that God doesn't have your best interest at heart, he's keeping something from you, he doesn't care about you. The truth and the lie – each longs for you. Jesus said he is the Truth and he came to die for us and save us - Satan is the father of lies wants to kill and destroy us.
But this description of sin as crouching outside my door, longing to destroy me, made me think of this verse from a different angle. Could it also be a reminder to stay inside the door? Deep inside where God dwells with your spirit, where He is your refuge, your shield.
I thought of Rahab remaining inside her house during the battle with the scarlet cord in the window (Joshua 2).
I thought of the children of Israel staying inside their homes with the blood of the Passover lamb on the doors as death passed by (Exodus 12:12-13).
I thought of the sheep finding safety inside the enclosure with the Shepherd. I thought about the Enemy prowling about looking for someone to devour, but our Shepherd going out looking for the lost.
So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:7-10 (ESV)
Lord, you long for me, you love and care for me. What/Who do I long for? Do I long for you, Lord? Show me my heart. I know that anything that I long for more than you will be a snare. But every longing for you and in you will be satisfied. Keep me there inside the Door, in the sheepfold, under the shadow of your wings. Make me long for you, as you long for me.
You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. Job 14:15
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18
My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. Isaiah 26:9a
I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Psalm 42:1-2
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8
Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
-- Charles Wesley
Jesus ... joy of every longing heart.
1 Definitions from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon
2 Brent Curtis and John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance.
Photo of door by Jack Bair
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