The first act of worship
incited the first murder.
The first martyr.
Killed by his own brother.

Here in capsule, the entire story of
the cost of, and
the rage against . . .
worship.

The first man who worshiped, died for his worship.

Men called on God who were not murdered for it.
But to worship God, fires the special violence of hell.

Prayer and worship are two distinct spheres.
Man can talk to God and though Satan hates prayer,
it is not a murderous crime.

But when one bows to adore the Creator,
to need His total help,
to name Him as God of very God,
the serpent recoils in utter aversion
and prepares a strike of death.
But Satan must have a Cain in whose mind to
spit his malicious ideas,
a human mouth to lure the worshiper
to the private field of death,
a hating hand to strike the killing blow.
    
You are Abel, the worshiper.
Or you are Cain, the killer.

For the stroke that came from Cain's hand was not
aimed merely at Abel. It was in spirit aimed at God.
The blood of Abel cried in the ears of the Lord,
"O God, the blood shed here was shed for thee.
If it were not for love of Thee, this blood had not been shed!

If these drops had not been consecrated by devotion,
if this blood had not flowed in the veins of
a man who loved God with all his heart,
it had not been poured out upon the ground.
O God, cries every drop, "I fell upon the ground for Thee."
(And so says the blood of Christ) "O God, the Sufferer,
Pal in death whose wounds are torn open with
the cruel nails, and whose soul is wracked with
pain unutterable, dies to Thee.
If there had been no God, He need not die.
But it is for Thee, for Thee each pang,
for Thee each groan, for Thee each drop of blood.
- Charles Hadden Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Copyright©2001 Martha Kilpatrick