When it comes to our dealings with God, it really IS true: you can run but you can’t hide.
God told Cain that He could hear his murdered brother’s blood crying out from the ground for justice. Since then, thousands of criminals have been tracked down by blood evidence. But even if they aren’t caught, listen to how the Lord describes people like Cain: “A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth” (Gen 4:12). A fugitive is running from something, and a vagabond has nowhere to hide. Do you wonder what this has to do with you? Well, that’s where every sinner is who hasn’t discovered Christ as the Hiding Place. Remember, the Bible tells us in 1 John 3:15, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.” God sees the intent of our hearts, as well as what will happen if that seed of hatred is allowed to grow. In 2011, 79 percent of murders reported to the FBI were committed by friends, loved ones, or acquaintances. Do you know how Cain responded to God when he realized he had cut himself loose from the Lord? He cried out in verse 13: “My punishment is greater than I can bear!” or, as the margin has it, “My iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven.” Poor Cain. First, he badly underestimated his own sinful heart and the need for God’s prescribed blood sacrifice, thinking his best should be good enough. Then he underestimated the way that sin metastasizes in the soul, turning jealousy and anger into rage and murder. But here he underestimates the wonderful forgiving grace of God. Poet Jehoida Brewer wrote, “On Christ almighty vengeance fell, / Which must have sunk a world to hell. / He bore it for a sinful race, / And thus became their Hiding Place.” God can forgive you, whatever sins you have committed. Christ died for you, a fugitive from His grace. Stop running. Come by faith to Christ today.