Go to Town if Farming Isn’t Working

Genesis 4:12
When you work the ground, IT WILL NO LONGER YIELD ITS CROPS FOR YOU. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. ” (Emphasis in capital is mine)

Genesis 4:17
Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. CAIN WAS THEN BUILDING A CITY, and he named it after his son Enoch. (Emphasis in capital is mine)

The early biblical account shows that God created a rural community. A community based around farming activities of crop and animal production. If we limit our reading to that we may conclude what a kid’s adage says.

“God made man, man made the city”

However, man is not the originator and the only creator of cities. Jerusalem is the city of God. The New Jerusalem is God’s City for the saints. Saints will live in eternity in God’s city around God’s universe. This information is important so that we do not conclude that cities are created by evil and have no place in God’s plans. That would be a one-sided understanding of scripture.

Revelation 21:2-3
(2) I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

God not only has a city for the saints, but the city is His dwelling place. God doesn’t present Himself as dwelling in some remote site. God lives in the holy city of New Jerusalem. Cities are not of human origin. Unless you want to wrongly allege that God has borrowed the city idea from human beings and created His own city. God cant borrow human ideas. Cities are God’s idea!

With that out of the way, we can now delve into the scripture of the day. Cain killed Abel because of Jealousy. God saw it coming and saw it happening. That teaches us that God’s silence doesn’t mean He didn’t see or that He approves the wrong act. Do not be so comfortable with wrongdoing simply because God hasn’t hit you instantly with a punishment. Repent before He hits you so hard you won’t recover.

Good News Translation
If you try to grow crops, the soil will not produce anything; …”

Contemporary English Version
When you try to farm the land, it won’t produce anything for you. …

Amplified Bible
When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength [it will resist producing good crops] for you; …”

New Living Translation
No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! …”

The curse of Cain was that Agriculture will no longer work for him. God tells Cain that even if he works very hard, he will fail as a farmer. No amount of hard work can go beyond the limits set by God. God cursed Cain and seriously limited his farming success.

The next thing the Bible records is that Cain built a city. Now that farming that was the in thing was no longer an option for him and his family, Cain did not hang around whining and crying over spilled milk. Cain did not reminisce on the good old days when farming worked. Cain moved on to new ventures and built a city. If farming doesn’t work, build a city!

Has farming failed for you? What are you doing about it? Being bitter and angry? That is a path to complete failure. Accept that things have worked negatively and move on to something else. Once you are sure that this can’t work anymore, move on. Do not keep farming yet you can build a city!

If employment has eluded you, do something else. Do not curse the years you seem to have wasted in school. If the job environment is toxic and employment has lost its savor, and you are sure it’s a closed-door, accept and move on. If a relationship has run its course and nothing can salvage it, do not mourn forever. Cain did not mourn forever, he moved on. Move on in the name of Jesus!

If this business has become like Cain’s farming, and nothing can change its fate, move to another business or find a job. When farming fails, build a city. Do not hang around wasting time oozing negative energy. Rise up and smell the coffee. If farming fails build a city!

May God help us today to know when farming no longer works and May we have the courage to take the risk and move on to city building, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

NB: Yesterday we began a new series of studying messages in chapter four of all the 66 Bible books. Invite others to this journey and let’s do this together for spiritual nourishment and God’s glory…thank you so much for your support and welcome!

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