As we look forward to April, I will be launching into a new sermon series on prayer. We will look at many aspects of prayer, including how to have productive prayers. Prayer is a perennial topic, because we so often pray, but feel like we need to better understand what God desires for our prayers to be like.

So let’s begin with Genesis 4:26, “At this time people began to call on the name of the Lord.” This verse indicates the first time in which prayer becomes part of human life. Worship had already been instituted as we saw in the story of Cain and Abel. But now making special requests and calling on God to do what he promised becomes part of our relationship with him.

At this point, Adam and Eve have already sinned. The garden of Eden is closed. And all the participants in that sin have received their curses. But amongst those curses was a promise that the seed of the woman would produce a person who would crush the serpent’s head, and so defeat the devil and his schemes. This promise was one that was held onto, and each generation was reminded of God’s promise to fulfill it.

Yet much happened in the waning years. Cain’s jealousy of Able led to murder, and it seems that neither of these sons were up to fulfilling the promise. When the third son, Seth, is born. Eve is certain that God will be true to his promise, even though Seth is just as incapable as his previous brothers.

So then, when Seth has his son, Enosh, Seth reveals in his name the despair of the whole family. Enosh means “weakness”, signifying that none of Adam’s race is up to the task of destroying the devil, but instead are under the devils powers and captives in his kingdom. This is proven more true in the next section where the sins of humanity lead to the flooding of the Earth.

And so we see in verse 26 the first time prayer becomes part of our human lives. The “calling on the name of the Lord” were prayers, asking God to fulfill his promise. The people of Seth’s day were calling on the name of the Lord, asking him to send a savior. They were asking for him to fulfill his promise. That prayer repeated over and over as every son of Adam showed their weakness. Every son of Adam and daughter of Eve sinned, and so showed their inability to be free. It is clear by the end of Genesis 4, that the savior would not come from Adam’s line, but from the seed of the woman a child would be born. That child would have the power to destroy the devil and his works, and would rescue Adam’s race.