Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Land of Nod nod-eretz-ארץ נוד

I’m sure everybody is quite familiar with the story of the two brothers Cain and Abel. Cain, a tiller of the fields and Abel, a shepherd, both offer up sacrifices to G-d. However, G-d only looks favorably upon Abel’s sacrifice while Cain’s attempt at a good deed is rebuffed. Infuriated and jealous, Cain finds an opportune moment and then goes off and murders his brother. G-d confronts him and then as a punishment sentences Cain to be a restless wanderer on the earth. He will be banished from G-d’s presence and will be considered an outlaw wherever he goes. Genesis 4:16 goes on to state the following;

“So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”

The Hebrew word “Nod” literally means “to wander” or “wandering”. However, it doesn’t just mean wander in the physical sense of moving from one place to another with no clear objective. There is also a strong sense of restlessness or a lack of peace like life has no meaning or purpose. Given Cain’s situation, the Land of Nod is a most apt name for the place he eventually ended up living in. This connotation can also be seen in our English phrase “to nod off” which means to become dozy due to an intense lack of interest or severe boredom.

Now let me ask my fellow messianic believers a question? Before we came to Christ, isn’t this what we were like? Weren’t we just wanderers? Weren’t we just simply passing the time? We had no clear cut goals or direction. We had no reason to live. Life was boring and dreary. No wonder a G-dless world turns to money, drugs, alcohol and sex to fill that void inside that never seems to go away.

Isn’t it also true that there is no one more miserable than a believer who has backslid away from G-d and has again become embroiled in the cares and worries of this world? I can vouch from personal experience that there is nothing more miserable than that dark lonely feeling that occurs after one deliberately sins. It is during such times that I feel so lonely and begin to worry that maybe G-d has forever abandoned me. On the other hand, when you are in obedience to G-d, there is nothing greater than the peaceful reassurance that results.

L-rd, thank you so much for rescuing us from our wanderings, from eretz-nod, and infusing our lives with real purpose and meaning. And please forgive us when we mess up sometimes. Life can sometimes be so hard. Please don’t ever abandon us. Please reassure us that you are with us.

Amen

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