Let Sleeping Serpents Lie

In Genesis 4:7, the Lord very graciously warned Cain against continuing down the path of anger and self-will. The Lord told Cain: "But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it."

Understanding what the Lord meant by "sin is crouching at your door" is the key to everything else contained in the warning. At first most people think of sin crouching as if it were an animal like a lion with its body tense and pressed low to the ground, ready to pounce and attack. However, the original word for crouching refers to an animal resting, not preparing to attack. The Lord is warning Cain of the existence metaphorically of a "sleeping" serpent at the entrance to the path he is about to choose for himself. Once awakened, the serpent ("sin") will make every effort to conquer Cain, meaning to lead him further into sin and eventually to death. The Lord then invokes the memory of his original mandate to Adam and Eve to "rule over every living creature that moves on the earth" (Gen. 1:26). In other words, the Lord tells Cain that he (Cain) should be ruling over the serpent, not placing himself in the position of submitting to its moral influence.

In the application time on Sunday, I encouraged everyone to think of the life that God calls us to walk in righteousness as a path with forks that branch off into sinful practices. The Lord's warning to Cain stands as a warning to us also. There is a sleeping serpent at the entrance of each fork that branches off toward sin. If we choose the path of sin, we won't be able to help but awaken the serpent, which desires to have us just as much as it did Cain. It desires to lead us further down the path toward sin and death.

The Apostle Paul writes similar words in Romans 7, where he describes original sin ("the sin") as housed in our flesh. In verse 5, Paul refers to the sin "at work" in our flesh. The original word means "energizing." When provoked, in other words, the sin, which is housed in our flesh, rises up with energy to defeat us. Yet another way of saying this is, the sin housed in our flesh energizes itself to gain even more control as we yield to its power and influence.

Paul ultimately advises us not to make any provision for the flesh (see Romans 13:14). It is another way of saying, "be careful about the serpent (the sin) crouching at the entrance to paths of sin." Implementing this involves not only not starting down paths of sin, but also moving past those forks in the way where they present themselves. This means not only not doing what is wrong, but also positively doing what is right. When we simply stand at the fork and ponder the sleeping serpent at its entrance, sooner or later we will take steps toward it, awaken it, and suffer the consequences.

Not doing what is wrong at moral forks in the path is only half of any strategy for victory. The other half involves a positive expression of the right behavior God desires. For example, in someone is trying to conquer anger, it isn't enough to simply not act in anger toward another person. Victory over anger involves acts of love toward another instead of acts of anger. Victory is not simply acts of neutrality as one holds oneself back from acts of anger.

In the end, we would do well to heed God's warning to let sleeping serpents lie. No one wins when he or she provokes sin to life and energizes its desires. Victory means moving past the sleeping serpents, while continuing to act positively in the direction of righteous behavior.