Guardrails save lives on the highway and day to day

“If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” — Genesis 4:7 (CSB)

Seated in church on a Sunday evening, a quiet interruption made its way to my pew, seeking my attention. He didn’t say a word, only waved me over with his pointer finger, as to say, “come here.” My heart sank a little because I knew this man well and he was heavily involved with the first responders in our little southern Missouri town. My immediate thought was for my husband. However, He was working out of town. I thought surely this wouldn’t be the way one would inform me of an accident occurring so far from home. As I inched closer, I could tell there was indeed concern in his eye, but not for me. When I finally met him in the back of the church, he asked if I could accompany him to my mother-in-laws home because there was an accident my father-in-law was involved in, and thought it best I tag along.

Turns out, my father-in-law had wrecked his truck on the way home from work and was in somewhat critical condition. When we reached the scene of the accident, they were just loading him into the ambulance and ready to blast toward the emergency room. It was unnerving to watch it all unfold before me, but what really caused my heart to sink was seeing his truck situated upside down, half on the highway with the other half resting on the bridge’s guardrail with the creek flowing far below. When the first responders found my father-in-law, he was beneath the truck as if covered by the shade of a giant oak tree. It’s a miracle he’s alive and a miracle the guardrail kept him from the creek below.

As I read through Genesis 4 this week, verse seven caught my attention. Adam and Eve gave birth to two sons. As they grew older, the time came for their offering to the Lord. Long story short, God accepted Abel’s offering, but Cain is rejected, along with his offering. Apparently, Cain had some sin struggles (1 John 3:12). This rejection caused Cain to become furious with Abel. The Lord recognized this in Cain and warned him in verse seven, saying, “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

As I read this, I thought about the guardrail on the bridge. How it saved my father-in-law and his truck from a very likely death. The door in Genesis verse seven has the same value. It operates as a guardrail to keep what’s on the other side from harming us. In this case, sin. Sin’s desire is for you and for them. It’s for me, it’s for our children, and their children. Sin lurks. It waits at the door, seeing who might let it in.

This is something I share with my children about their temptations. It’s something my husband and I do in our marriage to protect it. We set guardrails. We leave the door closed to things that could tempt us or harm us. If you don’t want to have sex outside of marriage... build some guardrails. Don’t allow yourself to be in situations where the doors are left open. If you want to protect your marriage from infidelity, build a guardrail in your workplace. Don’t text and call the opposite sex without your spouse being involved in those calls or text. Don’t carpool with the good looking single guy or gal without your spouse tagging along. If pornography is a problem, maybe a smartphone is a bad idea. Set up a computer in the primary space of your home for all to see. Set filters on your phone, computer, etc. Guardrails save lives. Don’t give the devil an opportunity to woo you. This may sound silly to you, but it’s very serious. When scripture says that sin desires you. That word desire suggests that sin wishes to be as intimate with you as a woman is with her husband!

But God.

God is quick to remind Cain that he must rule over it. That means it’s possible to do so. Cain could’ve left the door shut. Abel could’ve lived. But instead of taking action against sin, Cain allowed sin to rule him. And as a result, he murdered his brother.

So what will you choose? Will you choose to be master over sin, or will you allow sin and temptation to rule you? I know what you’re facing may seem impossible to overcome. And on your own, you’re right, it is. But if we do what we can in the natural; set guardrails and lock doors. God will bring the supernatural. We can become masters over our sin struggles. With God, all things are possible.

Cassie Downs, formerly of the Ellsinore area, is a speaker and the author of Chasing Jesus.