The Land of Nod

 

Cain, in anger, kills his younger brother Abel. God, even before that had said to Cain, if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it. (Genesis 4:7 NRSVUE) but he had no regard for God’s warning and opened the door for sin to enter and sin mastered him.

Cain’s offering exposed the condition of his heart, and it wasn’t right, it harboured evil (ref. 1 john 3:12).

After that whole unfortunate incident, Cain, when confronted by God, denies his act of murder, and the fact that he shows no signs of repentance added to his guilt; he just lacked a right disposition toward God.

Cain was a man of the soil, that was his calling – a tiller of the ground, and his brother’s blood cried out to God from that same ground (ref. Genesis 4:10), not for forgiveness but for retribution. Hebrews 12:24 says that Jesus’ blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel because it is His blood that provides forgiveness.

Photo courtesy O'Reilly Lewis

God said to Cain,

“And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” – Genesis 4:11-12 (NRSVUE)

The punishment was more than he could bear, and Cain immediately realized that separation from God’s immediate presence was an inevitable consequence of the choice he had made in anger.

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry – Ephesians 4:26 (NIV)

Descent into sin caused Cain’s banishment from a partially spiritual way of life into a purely physical existence. Cain lost much more than his calling in his turning away from the manifested presence of God, he lost his ability to sense the spiritual.

Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. – Genesis 4:16 (NRSVUE)

Understand that by this time, Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel had already been exiled from the Garden, they had already journeyed eastward, away from their place of orientation with no chance of returning, so intentionally stating the direction that Cain headed must not go unnoticed as east is symbolic of going away from God.

Putting in that titbit even after we’re told that he went away from the presence of the Lord emphasizes the fact that he was now completely disoriented, totally gone with no turning back. Cain was truly gone out of God’s presence, yet a merciful God still afforded him protection.

Verse 16 also lets us know that Cain settled in the Land of Nod. There is so much imbedded in this one verse.

You see, the location of Nod is unknown, all we know is that it was east of Eden.

Look at what Cain says to God just before he went away from His presence,

I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, 

 Beloved, the Hebrew word for “wanderer” is “nod”.

Could it be that the Land of Nod was not a physical location but a physical condition that describes Cain’s state of being after departing God’s presence? Could the Land of Nod be Cain’s judgment as a fugitive? To be a wanderer on the earth, separated from God was indeed Cain’s awful fate the result of the seductive whisper of sin.

Nod isn’t a place but a punishment.

Cain entered a state of homelessness. He did not settle in a town, village or country, Cain became a wanderer, a drifter roaming around with no fixed destination and worst of all, no spiritual connection.

Separated from God, Nod was Cain’s condition.

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. – Isaiah 59:12 (NRSVUE)

This is exactly what Cain expressed to God out of pusillanimous fear when he said, “I shall be hidden from your face”; this was his own doing, he incurred this punishment, the result of succumbing to the seductive whisper of sin.

Beloved, Cain had a choice as we all do. We can do the right thing or not. Sin is always lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it. Sin is lying in wait, and it does require much effort not to succumb to its seductive whisper. But what is the alternative? Heading east of Eden to settle in the Land of Nod? The choice is yours.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “The Land of Nod” ©2026 February 3, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Populated with Praise

 

We are still on the topic of praising God, so clearly there is something that God wants us to get that we haven’t quite got yet. God wants us to truly understand this spiritual weapon of mass destruction that we can load deep into our souls then use our mouths to shoot it out.

Proverbs 18:21 (NIV) states that the tongue has the power of life and death, which means that what we say can produce life or cause death. We can either give life to a situation or kill it. Too often we choose to give life to things we ought to be putting an end to. When we offer praises to God, we infuse our circumstances with the One who not only gives life but is Life, the Source of all that exists.

Praising God magnifies Him, making Him bigger until He looms over your life, overshadowing your circumstances and situations.

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30 ESV)

St. Kitts photo courtesy O'Reilly Lewis

We need all the areas of our lives to be populated with praise. To populate means to fill or be present in a place or sphere, to settle in a place, to live, to occupy.

Now, even more than ever, our lives require a population growth of praise.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4 NASB)

Notice the behaviours that Paul tells Timothy will be an indication of terrible times. Paul lists ungrateful just before unholy and he goes on to say that people will have a form of godliness but deny its power. My goodness, we are seeing this play out every day.

Ingratitude is one of the blights that have corrupted humanity, humans are a thankless species and it’s spilling over into our attitude toward God, we show no gratitude towards one another and certainly we aren’t thankful to God. Being ungrateful has led to our becoming an unholy society that has no interest in praising God.

You see, thankfulness gives rise to praise, if there’s no gratitude there’ll be no praise.

let us always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess his name (Hebrews 13:15 ISV).

Beloved, praise will never well up from inside you if you don’t even acknowledge or appreciate the good things God has done in your life. You won’t even take the time to think on these things, instead you’ll wake up, get out of bed and hurry off to do your thing, preoccupied with everything else but God.

It cannot continue like this beloved, it just can’t, you can’t.

If you’re looking for explosive results that will positively affect your life, then you have to look up – praise God, glorify and magnify Him. You cannot afford to forget God’s benefits.

The truth is, we just don’t remember but we must make a conscious decision to remember and to glorify God through praise. God is still good no matter what and He deserves your sacrifice of praise.

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits (Psalm 103:2 NIV)

Look at the world today, times are bleak, but what is happening in the population does not have to adversely affect you, you have to populate your space with praise and when your spaces are populated with praise, you become a conductor of God’s miraculous power.

Can you imagine what would happen if an entire population got together in one accord and used the power of their tongues to praise God, their spaces will become populated with praise and what that outcome might look like?

Beloved, it’s not far-fetched; ever heard of Jehoshaphat?

As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. (2 Chronicles 20:22 NIV)

Faced with what was to them an impossibility, was nothing for God to accomplish, but only after King Jehoshaphat and all who lived in Judah and Jerusalem began and continued to sing His praises. God destroyed and annihilated the problem on their behalf, they did not have to fight.

Beloved, it’s not far-fetched; ever heard of the wall-enclosed city of Jericho?

When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 6:20 NIV)

After marching around Jericho for six days in silence, on the seventh day, those fortified walls were no match against God’s strength, they crumbled right in front of them. Sometimes we have to silently wait on God as we allow Him to do whatever He needs to do before we start shouting His praises. But when our spaces and places are populated with praise problems crumble right before our eyes.

What does Psalm 91 verse 8 ESV translation say?

You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense

And that is God’s promise to you.

Beloved, every five minutes you spend griping and complaining is five minutes of your life wasted; your precious time will be better spent praising God with your entire being, making sure that your place or sphere is properly populated with praise.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Populated with Praise” ©2026 February 2, 2026

 

Created to Praise

 

The psalms, whether written by David, Solomon, Moses, or the sons of Korah, reflect the circumstances these psalmist were facing in their lives – pain, sorrow, war, fear, abandonment, joy, despair, elation, gratitude and praise were all expressed in beautiful lines of poetic song, laid out for us to garner encouragement in our own times of similar circumstance.

The last verse of the last chapter in the Book of Psalms says,

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! – Psalm 150:6 (ESV)

However, we tend to dole out the phrase, “Praise the Lord” like a mantra that is not necessarily heartfelt but more of a rote reflex action.

“Praise the Lord” flies out of our mouths as just another thing to say without any regard for God.

I was once introduced to a lady who, stretching out her hand towards mine, smiled then uttered a shallow overused “Praise the Lord” as if it was some sort of mindless disingenuous salutation.

Beloved, “Praise the Lord” isn’t a catch phrase to be bandied about like a frivolous greeting, it’s an expression of exaltation of God which ascribes glory to Him and when you offer genuine praise to God it stabilizes and strengthens your roots in Him, so that when the storms of life are raging you’ll stand firm, shaken perhaps but immovable.

Like the psalms, the words of Charles Wesley’s hymn are still so relevant for us today.

Through all the changing scenes of life,
in trouble and in joy,
the praises of my God shall still
my heart and tongue employ.

In spite of all that’s happening around you, praise the Lord!

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. – Psalm 34:1 (ESV)

Beloved, you were created to praise (ref. Isaiah 43:21); praising God is your source of spiritual nourishment. You must saturate the atmosphere with praise; populate your home, your office, your environment, your entire life with praise. Delight in giving Him praise for whatever you delight in will determine your direction.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Created to Praise” ©2026 February 1, 2026

 

 

 

Short and Powerful

 

The shortest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 117; with just two verses this short and powerful psalm is easy to commit to memory. The New International Version reads,

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.

For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

These two verses reveal the heart of God toward all people.

God’s universal call to worship encourages us not just to praise Him but to praise Him enthusiastically. God knows the power of praise and wants His praise to be always on our lips (ref. Psalm 34:1).

God’s invitation is not limited to any one nation or set of people it is a call to all; creed, nationality and race do not matter, it is universal.

God’s plan was always a global one, extended to all mankind. After all, God shows no partiality and is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34 AMPC) and neither should we. We should see every person as someone God invites to worship Him and never discriminate.

Most people do not realize just how powerful praising God is; like effective fervent prayer, praising God avails much.

David, a man after God’s own heart, in Psalm 22 verse 3, lets us know that God inhabits our praises. Do you truly understand what that means? When you praise God, He occupies your praises, praise manifests His presence.

Paul, Silas and their fellow inmates found out that praising God is an earth shattering chain breaker (ref. Acts 16:25-26).

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. (Psalm 150:6 HCSB).

Beloved, you are breathing so praise the Lord. Praise Him with your whole self.

In this short and powerful two-verse psalm, David assures us of God’s unfailing love for us, and it is because of His great love toward us that He has provided us with a weapon to attack our problems. We should be so grateful.

Once upon a time, while working at a bank, I was transferred from a branch I loved to a particular branch to do a job that the manager there had earmarked for one of her favourites – a young lady who was a member of a clique or more appropriately, a coven led by this manager. Needless to say, I was unwelcomed and they purposely set out to make my work life very difficult.

I engaged in fervent prayer, pouring my soul out to God night after night then one night, as I lay on my bed exhausted from praying, Spirit spoke.

From tomorrow, the moment you enter the branch start praising God, and every time any one of them walks past your desk say “Praise God”; it doesn’t have to be loud, but it must leave your lips. Don’t say it in your mind, let it leave your lips.

Because of where my desk was positioned, every single employee had no choice but to walk in front of me to get to their stations, every cashier, every supervisor, every counter clerk, the messenger, the tea lady, the cleaner, the guard and the manager were all required to walk past me every single morning. I was always at work before them and as each member of the coven slithered past, I whispered, “Praise God”.

After 9 months of God’s praise being continually in my mouth, I was called into the manager’s office and handed a letter, it was sent via fax from the HR Department at Head Office. I read it, not only was I transferred to the Payroll Department at Head Office, but it was “with a view to promotion”. Silently I praised God for His love and faithfulness toward me.

The news travelled through the branch like dry leaves on fire. From the manager to the guard, all hissed their displeasure. One of the coven members was nominated to approach me to ask if I requested a transfer, my response was a resounding “yes!” then softly but loud enough for her to hear I said, “but not from whom you think” and smiled. A look of confusion straddled her face, then she walked away towards the supervisor’s desk where others were gathered, I was certain it was to relay my answer.

we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you (2 Chronicles 20:12 ESV)

Beloved, the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever…Praise the Lord! In the midst of conflict don’t fight, praise God instead and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf (v 17).

Etch the words of Psalm 117 into your soul and enthusiastically praise God for He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things (Psalm 107:9 ESV).

Praise God!

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Short and Powerful” ©2026 January 30, 2026

Remind your soul

 

Photo by Chionsu Barclay

These days, with job losses, increases in the cost of living, and leadership throughout the world that appears to be self-centred and schizophrenic at best, if not for all people, certainly for a lot of people, life is uncertain and God seems to be afar off somewhere. David was experiencing similar circumstances when he wrote Psalm 63.

Psalm 63 refers to a time when David was in the wilderness in Judah. I have extracted verses 1, 6, 7 and 8 as the focus for today’s reflection.

O God, you are my God;
    I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
    my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
    where there is no water.

I lie awake thinking of you,
    meditating on you through the night.

Because you are my helper,
    I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
    your strong right hand holds me securely.

David was experiencing inner struggle due to his circumstances, but he did not let it overtake him. Instead of succumbing to the rigours of the parched and weary land where there is no water, David takes responsibility for what is happening inside him and begins speaking to himself, not about the circumstances but reminds his soul of God his Helper.

It did not matter how it looked, or how he was feeling, what mattered to David was to focus on God; to think of God, meditate on God, and cling to God. David remembered all that God offers.

David reminded his soul that it was in God that his security laid.

Beloved, you too must do the same. Remind your soul that your security is not in your bank account, your job or the world’s economy, it is God who holds you securely in His strong right hand.

Keep God’s benefits in mind. As David said in Psalm 103:2 (NLT), may I never forget the good things he does for me, then he lists out all those good things in the successive verses of his song.

Reminding yourself of what God has done and not falling prey to your circumstances is a sign of spiritual maturity.

Emotions are adaptive so they can be controlled. Solomon, in his great wisdom tells us that it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city (Proverbs 16:32 NLT); this has more to do with inner transformation than outward restraint, therein lies your strength.

Hebrews 4:15 (NLT) says,

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

Jesus, in His humanity faced more challenges than we could ever endure, yet He did not allow the things happening outside Him to affect what was inside Him. The offense levied on Him, the insults spewed towards Him, the judgments cast upon Him never caused Jesus to return the favour.

We need to understand who we are as sons of God, as Jesus knew who He was as the Son of God. Now, you might be saying, “But I’m only human, I’m not Jesus”, you are absolutely correct but He was human and demonstrated how to walk and move as a son of God. Take a good look at Jesus, not in a wristband WWJD way, but to really see Him and imitate Him under the tutelage of His Spirit.

Beloved, Jesus took full responsibility for His soul and its condition, not that He did not wrestle within His human state, for we see Him in the Garden at Gethsemane doing just that but He knew in whom His security lay and reminded His soul as He brought His soul and His circumstances under the subjection of God the Father, declaring Yet I want your will to be done, not mine (Matthew 26:39 NLT).

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Remind your soul” ©2026 January 29, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

A Necessary Wrestling Match

 

Have you ever felt as if life is just beating up on you? Like no matter what you do it’s a struggle? You’re in a wrestling mismatch because you’re not winning?

Jacob found himself in a wrestling match but before getting into it, here’s the back story, which you probably already know, to give you some context.

Okay, so long story short…

Abraham’s son Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The younger of the two, Jacob, which means “he will follow”, “he will take a heel” or “he will supplant, deceive”, was given this name because he grabbed his older brother’s heel at the time of their birth. The name in Hebrew, Yah-kobe, is from the root “akab” which refers to a heel.

When the second baby was born, he was holding tightly to Esau’s heel. So that baby was named Jacob. (Genesis 25:26 ERV)

After they were grown, Jacob conned Esau, the first-born, into relinquishing his birthright to him for a bowl of Lentil stew (see Genesis 25:29-34). Esau favoured his belly more than his rights as the first-born son.

Isaac loved Esau, while Rebekah preferred Jacob and that’s where the real bacchanal started. You see Esau as the first-born was to receive a divine blessing conferred on him by his father, Isaac but Rebekah, overhearing a conversation between father and his first-born son, devised a scheme to deceive Isaac into blessing Jacob instead (see Genesis 27).

The deception worked and Jacob obtained the blessing meant for Esau. This resulted in a yearslong animosity between these twin brothers.

So, baby Jacob from the womb, tries to usurp his brother’s “first-born son” privilege. Later, he exploits his brother’s hunger and cons him out of his birthright after which he deceives his blind father, invoking the Lord in order to corroborate his lie, to steal his brother’s God ordained blessing. Jacob wrestled God’s blessing from Esau.

Jacob’s life was thereafter marked by lies of his own making; he lived up to his name as supplanter, living life in his own strength through manipulation and deceit. Conniving and conning his way into acquiring worldly blessings from man.

My goodness. And imagine this sort of thing still happens today.

People scheming and lying to get that which is not meant for them or which they are not entitled to.

Anyway, there came a time when there was going to be a planned encounter between the two brothers (Genesis 32:1-6).

Not surprisingly, Jacob was scared out of his wits to meet Esau and prayed to God (see Genesis 32:7-12). He then prepared gifts for Esau, sent his family away and remained alone. That night, Jacob had an encounter before the planned encounter.

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. (Genesis 32:24 ESV)

Jacob and this unknown man were in a wrestling match all night. Eventually, when the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (v 25-26)

Who was this man, Jacob may have thought.

Then the man asked Jacob his name and he told him, then the man said (v 27-28),

“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 

Jacob had been in an all-night wrestling match with God! A damaged hip, a name change, the realisation that he had seen God face to face, and yet [his] life [had] been delivered (v 30)? This was not without reason.

For years I could not understand how Jacob could have won this wrestling match with God, surely to wrestle with God would be a mismatch in God’s favour. But then I realised something and maybe you realised it too.

In verse 26, when the man told Jacob to let him go and Jacob refused, it wasn’t that Jacob won the bout, he simply continued to cling to the man refusing to let go not because he knew it was God but because he was up to his old tricks of obtaining a blessing any way he could and for this Jacob ended up with his hip being put out of joint.

Beloved, God’s blessing does not come through deception or by force. Jacob ended up with a crippling in his hip socket and probably a lifelong limp; you are always rewarded for your actions right here on earth, whether those actions are good or bad the reward will be congruous with the action.

God’s blessings come only by His initiative; it’s not through scheming or schmoozing or conning or cunning or trying to control outcomes.

Yet still, because God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29), the blessing Jacob stole from Esau was honoured however, for it to take effect, the means by which it was acquired had to be transformed and that could have only been accomplished by a necessary wrestling match with God; it was then and is now, only by honest dependent struggle with God Himself.

It’s no coincidence that Jacob meets God and receives His blessing in the right way just before he is to meet Esau, from whom he received the blessing in the wrong way.

After wrestling with God Jacob is unable to stand on his own all he could do is cling to God and then and only then does he acquire a new identity, God gives him a new name and he becomes Israel, “he will rule with God”.

Beloved, transformation comes through surrender. God does not want to hurt you but just as He did with Jacob, He wants to change how you walk and move; He wants you to stop trying to control outcomes and cling to Him in a necessary wrestling match.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “A Necessary Wrestling Match” ©2026 January 29, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seventy Times Seven

 

The ancient world was not ignorant about the deep spiritual meaning of numbers, however much superstition has been attached and ascribed to numbers and not without reason as for centuries, occult practitioners of numerology, recognizing the spiritual symbolism that numbers carry, have perverted their use.

Numbers can be found throughout the Scriptures so let us not allow the perversion of what God intended detract from the fact that He placed special meaning upon numbers.

Delving into the importance of their use in Scripture is certainly not an invitation into divination but to see the glory of God through His unique use of numbers. God has invested divine properties in numbers and has intentionally placed them in His Word.

The association of numbers to occultism and numerology has made us ignore the special meaning attached to them by God and has caused us to by-pass the spiritual significance of numbers that the ancient world understood.

Take for instance Apostle Peter’s concern regarding forgiveness, he obviously understood the significance of the number seven when he posed a question to Jesus in Matthew 18:21(AMPC).

Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? [As many as] up to seven times?

When Jesus answered him, I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven! (v 22), it was not an arbitrary response. Jesus wasn’t giving Peter a lesson in multiplication or merely using a random large number to signify forgiveness.

Seventy times seven is four hundred and ninety, 490, which represents a time of grace, the end of which results in the termination of sin.

Jesus was alluding to Daniel’s prophecy (see Daniel 9:24-27) in which “weeks” signify a period of seven years, making 70 weeks, seventy times seven.

“God has allowed 70 weeks for your people and your holy city, Daniel. The 70 weeks are ordered for these reasons: to stop doing bad things, to stop sinning, to make people pure, to bring the goodness that continues forever, to put a seal on visions and prophets, and to dedicate a very holy place.  (Daniel 9:24 ERV)

Beloved, there is so much more to this number and other multiples of seven which can be found in several passages in both the Old and New Testaments but that is not what today’s reflection is about. The aim of this brief post is simply to show you that the numbers in Scripture have purpose and should not be by-passed or ignored. So, pay attention to the numbers.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Seventy Times Seven” ©2026 January 27, 2026