ODJ: needing God


April 15, 2013 

READ: Genesis 4:1-16 


They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshipped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! (Romans 1:25).


When Palestinian Tass Saada was just 17 years old, he joined the Fatah movement in the West Bank. Tass hated Jews and engaged in guerilla warfare against them. He was known as “Butcher” due to the many Israeli soldiers he killed as a sniper. But later, Tass surrendered His life to Jesus and now loves God and the Jews. With his ministry, Seeds of Hope, Tass works to provide modern necessities for Palestinians who live in the West Bank, while he also builds relational bridges between them and their Jewish neighbours.


Like all of us, Tass Saada had a deep need for God. Pastor and writer Ray Stedman once wrote that “Human beings are inadequate without [Him].” He then described how the book of Genesis reveals our deep need for God as seen in three realms:

• Natural Science (Genesis 1-2)


• Human Relationships (3-5)


• Spiritual Relationships (6-50)


As we consider one of those spheres—Human Relationships—we read that Cain wantonly took human life (4:8)—much like Tass when he was younger. By killing his brother Abel—committing the first murder—Cain rejected God’s counsel and pushed Him away (vv.6-7).

When we refuse to follow God and His loving instruction, we’re doomed to destruction in relationships and doomed to follow the lies of this world (Romans 1:25). Sadly, our holy God must turn away from us when we engage in our “shameful”, “vile” and “degrading” acts (v.24).


Cain desperately needed God and His truth, wisdom and love. But instead of being accepted in right relationship with God by turning to Him and rejecting the sin “crouching at [his] door” (Genesis 4:7), he committed a horrific sin that left him “cursed” before his Creator (v.11).


Don’t deny your need for God. Turn to Him today and find true life. —Tom Felten