Word of Encouragement (01/05/2022)

To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD (Gen. 4:26).

These words are not a prayer; they are a statement about prayer. But we will reflect on these words because they show that prayer is a distinguishing mark of God’s people and thereby encourage us to pray.

This verse follows a long section, in which the story of Cain and his descendants is told (Gen. 4:16-24). After being banished from the presence of the Lord, Cain travels eastward (further away from the Garden of Eden) and settles in the land of Nod. There he builds a city and names it after his son, Enoch. This seems to contradict God’s curse on Cain that he would be a fugitive and wanderer on the earth. But we saw that this curse was not so much about physical wandering as spiritual lostness away from the presence of the Lord. The story of Cain tells of his many notable descendants, who contribute significantly to the formation of civilization, such as Jabal, who became the father of those who dwell in tents and tend to livestock; Jubal, who became the father of musicians; Tubal-cain, who worked with bronze and iron.

We can see why this might have been the case. Being driving away from the presence of God, Cain and his descendants could not look to God as their Shield and Fortress; they had to “fend for themselves.” So, with a sense of urgency, they developed civilization, which would help them build a safe place for them—an earthly utopia. They were constantly looking around to see what dangers they faced and what they needed to protect themselves. And they were constantly looking down to find resources to help them do that.

While the story of Cain and his descendants takes up many verses to describe all their accomplishments (Gen. 4:16-24), the story of Seth and his descendants is shockingly brief. After informing us that Adam and Eve bore Seth after Abel’s death, the story simply says, “To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD” (4:26). We can assume that “people” here refer to Seth and his descendants since it’s hard to imagine that Cain and his descendants did the same.

It is not that calling upon the name of the LORD was all that Seth and his descendants did all day. They had to do all that needed to be done for their survival and even comfort; they, too, had to engage in the works of developing civilization. But those activities are not mentioned. Only their act of calling upon the name of the LORD is mentioned to highlight what distinguished them from the Cainites. This shows in a dramatic way the contrasting spirits, which governed these two races of men: the earthly-mindedness of the Cainites and the heavenly-mindedness of the Sethites.

How is your prayer life these days? I hope you see from today’s reflection that praying is not just a religious duty we must fulfill. Nor is it just a way to get what we want from God. It is an essential part of what makes us Christian. There is no such thing as a Christian who does not pray. It is as unnatural as an eagle that cannot fly. We may be able to go without prayer for a while, just like we can go without food for a while. But we cannot be healthy or grow as Christian without praying. This is because heaven, where Christ is, is our home and our life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 1:1, 3). And it is prayer, which connects us to our heavenly home and our heavenly life through the work of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord grow us all in our prayer life in this new year!