I’ve been butchering chickens lately, enjoying the fellowship of like-minded Christian women sitting around a table in my backyard as we worked together. One of my friends commented recently, “You know, this is what is missing in the Church today! Christians working together. As I sit here and work with you, I don’t even find butchering to be a chore but I actually in enjoy it.”
I have certainly found that to be true myself as I do not enjoy working alone but never mind work when I am doing so with others in community. Work is always easier with others’ companionship and assistance.
Have you even thought about God’s original conception of man’s work and how it came about? Have you ever related it to the original sin and original punishment in the Garden?
Assuming you are a parent, have you ever punished your child and he yet doesn’t follow the punishment?
“Jacob. Because you were late in getting to school this morning, you need to go to bed ½ hour earlier tonight?”
What if Jacob didn’t go to bed earlier as you instructed him? Wouldn’t that be frustrating? Wouldn’t you feel he was being disrespectful? Don’t we want our children to follow our instructions and even our punishments to the letter?
Assuming you are a child, have you ever been punished but ignored the punishment? Did you see the outrage in your parent’s eye?
Have you ever considered the Adam and Eve story in that light? Remember, Adam and Eve were in the Garden with God and everything was perfect. They had no worries and lived in perfect peace. They walked with God and ran around naked with no shame as sin and shame had no place in the original setting.
Work was part of the original setting, though, a fact we often ignore:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2:15, NIV
I find that particular scripture incredibly instructive and note that it’s certainly a nugget that I have often missed in the past. I even have held the misconception that in the original Garden man could eat whatever he wanted and he didn’t have to work. I’ve wrongly imagined that Adam just roamed around the Garden with God, laughing and joking, floating along in a state of permanent vacation, eating from whatever tree he felt like whenever he felt like it, skipping and dancing, playing all the time.
Isn’t it amazing how we can deceive ourselves and create fantasies that appeal to our inherent natures?
Work. Don’t we think of it as a four-letter word?
This whole concept amuses me. I know that I am inherently lazy and that I would prefer a world in which God would just provide everything for me on a silver platter and that I can be on a permanent vacation. But that’s just not the way it is.
God created man and immediately set him down in the Garden to work it so that he could feed himself. Personal responsibility was part of God’s plan from the very beginning. To think otherwise is pure foolishness and folly.
Work must be an essential part of our lives. Work clearly was God-ordained from the beginning. Work is not an option. In addition, the specific work that God gave man back in Genesis was to take care of the earth and to feed ourselves from our labors.
Now, let’s go on with the original sin and punishment story.
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17, NIV
Later, you’ll remember, God made Eve, the serpent tempted Eve, she convinced Adam to eat from the forbidden tree, God found out and they all were punished.
Now in terms of the punishment, the serpent was cursed (Genesis 3:14-15) and Eve was given pains in childbirth and in her relationship to Adam (Genesis 3:16). But what happened to Adam? Let’s focus specifically on Adam’s curse since it relates back to our Lord’s original charge for man to work.
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you: through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:17-19, NIV
So in Genesis 2:15 God put man in the Garden to work. That was not punishment. God merely expected Adam to work the Garden and to feed himself and his family as that was His plan.
In terms of Adam’s punishment, though, from Genesis 3:17-19 we know that not only was Adam to work but he was going to have to work harder than before for his food as the ground was cursed.
How does this relate to you or me? Or to our world today? What does this say about God’s intentions with respect to man’s work?
I know my nature is inherently lazy. I would much rather loaf around than work. But is that God’s plan for me? Wouldn’t you say that the culture of our world today emphasizes ease and luxury? Don’t we dream of vacations? Aren’t our kids excited to have Summer Break, lazy days and no work? But is that God’s intention for us?
God’s been clear since Genesis that we are to work for our food and that actually we should raise it ourselves. We are personally responsible for feeding ourselves. Now, certainly rest is part of the equation as the Sabbath was later ordained as a day of rest. But, working in the Garden to feed himself was the first thing that God set Adam on Earth to do.
And because of Adam’s sin, isn’t it God’s punishment that not only should we work, but that we should work harder? Absolutely.
What if we don’t? What if we prefer to get our food from the world’s food providers? (McDonalds, Walmart, factory produced meats and dairy, old produce, canned soups, Pizza Hut.) Are we in the least bit surprised that our health suffers? Don’t you expect God to be frustrated? Won’t he feel like we are being disrespectful? Doesn’t He want His children to follow His instructions and even His punishments to the letter?
When I punish Jacob, I do so in hopes of correcting his actions, to make him more obedient and to make him better off. Don’t you think that God does the same for us?
God cursed the earth and made it harder for Adam to feed his family as a lesson for him. But, we are so far removed from the Garden today that we aren’t receiving that lesson. In today’s world, our work often is far removed from the Earth, on computers and in offices. Yet the fact of the matter remains that God instructed us to grow our own food. We may choose not to do so but is that wise?
What is the lesson? Ultimately that God loves us more than we can ever imagine or conceive and that he instructs us and guides us for our best interests. Remember the original instruction to Adam, the instruction that was given before he told him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was to work to feed himself and his family.
However, when we grow our own food in our own Garden despite the fact that it is hard, very hard, and requires tremendous sweat on our brow, are we in the least bit surprised when we feel wonderful? Why are we shocked when experts tell us that we should eat 5 fresh fruits and vegetables for optimal health and well being? Why are we surprised to learn that grass fed meats are better for our health than factory-confined, industrially produced meats? Didn’t we hear the original instruction, “Work to feed youself and your family from the Earth.” Don't we know that He gives all of his instructions for our best interests? Always?
How do you think Adam felt? I know that he was ashamed at his sin and knew that he wanted to follow Yahweh’s directions more closely and intimately after his lapse in the Garden. He knew he had to work harder to feed himself but he gladly did so. He knew that he needed to fulfill his punishment and to feed himself from his labors and the sweat on his brow. I am sure that he felt blessed by his obedience and didn’t mind having to work harder. His additional efforts were the first sacrifice offered, a necessary labor given to get the food and blessing that he so desperately needed for a life right with God.
Are we fulfilling that original punishment today? Don’t you think that he still expects us to follow His original command today? I was instructed along with Adam back in Genesis to raise my own food from the Earth --- that while it will be difficult and require more effort that was originally required --- this plan for me to feed myself relates to his wish to make me better off.
How does it relate to you?
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