God Appointing Seth to Replace Abel

God appointed Seth to replace Abel (v. 25). This is the only thing that the Bible says concerning God’s work on Seth. Abel did not live long. He was martyred, so there was the need of a continuation. Right away God came in and appointed Seth. The word appointed is a strong word. For God to appoint Seth to replace Abel means that Seth was the same as Abel. This was also God’s work.

God Beginning to Have His Name Called Upon by Enosh

God began to have His name called upon by Enosh (v. 26). We also need to give the credit for this to God. Do we think that calling on the name of God was initiated by Enosh? Actually, it was not initiated or motivated by Enosh. God moved Enosh to call on Him. The name Enosh means “frail, mortal man.” Enosh was very frail, weak, and fragile, so he realized that he had nothing to trust in. At that juncture God came in to motivate him to call spontaneously, “O Jehovah. O Jehovah.” Calling on the Lord’s name started in this way.

Some people oppose the truth and practice of calling on the name of the Lord. But we have to realize that all real Christians, when they feel that they are so weak and fragile, would spontaneously call, “O Lord.” Even before we knew the truth concerning calling on the Lord’s name, many of us practiced it. Whenever we got into trouble, whenever we felt so weak, fragile, and helpless, we spontaneously called, “O Lord.”

Actually, when we felt so weak and helpless, God the Spirit motivated us from within to call, “O Lord, help me.” This was not only the practice of calling upon the name of the Lord but also God’s working. All the positive doings we see in the Bible are always something motivated by God. We human beings actually are not inventors but imitators. God is the unique Inventor. God invented everything, so He is the One who motivates, who invents. We are those who follow His motivation.

After we were saved, there were a number of times when we could not manage our situation, so we called upon Him and exercised our whole being to trust in Him. In mainland China during the Second World War, I was put into prison by the invading Japanese army. While I was there, I spontaneously called on the Lord and exercised my whole being to trust absolutely in Him. At that time it was a small thing for the invading Japanese army to kill people, and I was under their hand. They could have killed me at any time. If I had not trusted in the Lord, in whom could I have trusted? He motivated me to trust in Him.