Did God Create Work 
To Be a Burden?

God provides additional insights into day six of creation in chapter two of Genesis. He reveals the breath of life which He gave directly to the man. He also reveals the garden of Eden which He made for the man to tend. He reveals His command for work and safety instructions on the job. In this passage we see God's concern and purpose for work. We are given insight into the perfect provision God gives to each of us in our life work.

Scripture Passage: Genesis 2:4-17
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Main Thought: When God originally created "work" it was not designed to be a burden to us but rather the purpose for our existence on the earth.

When you tire at your labor, remember your strength for the job comes from God.

When you are disenchanted about where you are and what you are doing, remember that God locates you in a specific place for His specific purpose.

When you despair that no one cares, remember that God truly cares about your work.

"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-- the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." (Gen. 2:4-7 NIV)

1. When you tire at your labor, remember your strength for the job comes from God.

God made Adam a living being through direct infusion of His own life. That God could bring about life of any sort is an amazing thing to contemplate. Here we see a vibrant word-picture of God's creation of the first human life. Like a heavenly mud-pie God first formed the shell of a man from the dust of the ground. To make Adam come to life, God performs mouth-to-mouth -- only this is not the resuscitation of one who is unconscious but the inbreathing of life directly into Adam. From the life of God comes the life of man. What a breath-taking picture of God's awesome power to create life!

The life of God which animated the dust of the ground is our strength for work. God needs a man to work the ground He is preparing. How is Adam expected to perform work? By the strength of life which was given to him by God. How are you expected to perform work? By the strength of life which was given to you by God. Your capacity for work is dependent on a number of factors. Your body, to be sure, needs rest and food before any work can be contemplated. But your inner being -- soul, spirit, life-force whatever you want to call it -- must also be primed for work. Your mind needs to be able to focus, recall, analyze, and solve problems. Your emotions must be somewhat stable and controlled. Your will must be ready to make the myriad of decisions the day will bring. All of these factors of your inner being are dependent upon the nourishment and refreshment that can only come from God. He provides the strength and motivation which enables you to work.

When you job wears you out from too much excitement or too much boredom, you can confidently depend on God to provide the strength to endure. God has promised that He will be your strength. Spending time with Him will help you focus your thoughts, calm your emotions, and prepare your will. You do this through something not many people are doing today -- quiet time, quiet time. Quiet time is time spent with just you and God -- no TV, no radio, no nothing -- just you and God. Some may find this to be a frightening thing -- what will I say? what will I do? My advice is to just try it. Spend some quiet time with the Lord and see how refreshing it can be to your inner being. It won't change your problems. But prayer, Bible study, and meditation on God's word will give you strength for the day's challenges. As He promised us:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV)

But how am I to deal with the terrible stress I'm under at work -- I'm tired and worn out? God has promised to be your strength. In the song of Moses he cried: "The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him" (Exo. 15:2 NIV). In 1 Samuel 30:6, David is greatly distressed by men who want to stone him to death. Yet "...David found strength in the LORD his God." And the Psalmist noted, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble" (Psa. 46:1 NIV). Fine, you say, but how do I apply this at work? Quiet time. Take a few moments during the day to rest and refresh you inner being. In your car, in a break room, in a closed office -- find someplace to get away and spend time with God. He is at work and at home as well as at church!

OK, you say, but what if I'm just plain bored at work? We all go through periods of low activity or challenge. These periods are just as hard to take as the times of stress -- perhaps more so. One thing I have found to be true. One of the greatest supernatural works of the Holy Spirit is in helping you cope with the monotonous grind of day-after-day activities. Spend some time with the Lord to get you prepared for the day. Spend a few moments during the day to help you through. Be sure to thank God that night for being your strength and ever-present help!

"Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates." (Gen. 2:8-14 NIV)

2. When you are disenchanted about where you are and what you are doing, remember that God locates you in a specific place for His specific purpose.

Many times our jobs, even our companies, seem to be meandering aimlessly from day to day. I don't know of a single person who is more disenchanted with corporate America than Dilbert. In his typically dry humor, Scott Adams presented Dilbert at a project status meeting where he was asked to give an update on his project. "My project is a pathetic series of poorly planned near random acts. My life is a tragedy of emotional desperation." Dilbert said. His boss exclaimed, "It's more or less customary to say things are going fine..." (Adams, Scott. "Dilbert", Jan. 10, 1994.) From an unknown computer pundit, a supervisor walks out of a room full of programmers saying, "You folks start writing the programs and I'll go find out what the users want!" Other "crazy-makers" in corporate America include:

An emphasis on team-building but still give bonuses only for individual achievement.

Requiring a budget estimate on new undefined projects and then holding you responsible for the budget overruns.

Insisting on a "Total Quality Approach" in spite of cutting the realistic schedule and budget in half.

When such things are the normative practice of a company, then the company is meandering aimlessly. With work so ill-defined and nonsensical, you can be certain you are raising up many "Dilberts."

In a creation that was beautiful and sustaining, God gave Adam a perfect environment for work. With that rather dismal picture of many companies today, let's go back and look at work the way God designed it. In this passage from Genesis 2, we find that God had a specific "location" in mind for Adam, providing him with the perfect environment for work: a specific scope of work (the garden), no weeds, no storms, no bug infestation, perfect soil, afternoons off to walk with God...and, don't forget, no time cards, and an unlimited budget. Work was truly a joy in the garden of Eden.

In a creation that is not static but ever growing and changing, God gave Adam a purpose in work. The garden was brimming with life in every direction. Like a young, growing company that is constantly changing as it adapts to the volume of customers, orders, products, shipments, complaints, etc. -- Adam's garden was growing rapidly in the perfect environment. Adam was given the job to tend the garden. He was busy each day trimming here, cutting there, tilling the soil, and harvesting the fruit of his labors. God designed Adam with the gifts and the temperament to perform this kind of work.

God still provides His children today with a "location" and a "vocation" to accomplish His work through us. God opens doors and closes doors of employment for His children. He has designed you for particular types of work. His design for you includes your general temperament or personality, gifts or skills, intelligence, physique, and health. His opportunities for you, the ones you have taken and those you refused, have all combined to given you an experience base to use in your work. Your work then should be a natural outgrowth of the design God has for you.

In "Chariots of Fire," Eric was called to be a missionary in China along with his sister. But he was also a runner; in fact, he was Olympic material. So he trained for and qualified for the Olympic team. Sister did not approve and, after failing to discourage his training, rebuked him for taking time away from the mission field. He said to her, "But when I run, I feel God's pleasure!"

When you do those activities for which you are well-suited, you find the greatest fulfillment in work -- just in the work itself. When you work far outside your natural skills, abilities, and experience base, you will find work frustrating and unfulfilling. Do you find work to be hard, drudgery, or unappealing every single day? Perhaps you are at the right place but in the wrong job. Are you using the gifts and abilities with which God has equipped you but are not sure you are where you ought to be? Perhaps you are in the wrong place but the right job. God has a specific place and purpose for you in work. If you are following God but as yet unfulfilled in your work, perhaps it is time to sit back and reassess His purpose and His location for you.

"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 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.'" (Gen. 2:15-17 NIV)

3. When you despair that no one cares, remember that God truly cares about your work.

In a fallen world, it may well be that no one cares about your work. Part of the difficulty many of us have at work is the feeling that no one cares. It may be more than a feeling. The facts may be clear that no one cares about you -- just that you get the job done. It may be true that they don't care about the job you do either, just so long as it gets done. Then, others may be in the worst situation where no one cares about you or the job you done, whether it gets done or not. We live in a fallen world today where people, at the very core of their being, are selfish. Their focus is inward rather than outward toward others.

Work seems to be quite a burden today. People work hard but do not get ahead. Years of experience and solid performance on the job seems to be tossed aside with all the mergers, buyouts, failures, and "downsizing" of businesses. Consider AT&T in a record year of revenues and profits laying off record numbers of people! They are not alone. The whole business market is changing in nearly every area as a result of globalism. How could God have created such a terrible, purposeless environment for us to work?

God created the whole concept of work so it must be good to work. One thing we know for sure in the account of God's creation is that everything He created was good. It was also beautiful, majestic, glorious, purposeful, and many other pertinent adjectives. But above all it was good. He pronounced all that He created as good. After creating the man and woman and blessing them, God pronounced it all "very good." 1 Timothy 4:4 affirms this truth -- that everything God created is good. Since God created work as well, we must conclude that it too is good.

God created work BEFORE the fall -- so the divine imperative stands. Adam's work included the command to work the garden and care for it. He was given specific safety instructions concerning the trees in the garden and one in particular: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You see, God was concerned about Adam's work and about Adam. Adam was commissioned for work before the fall of humanity into sin. So the divine imperative for humans to subdue and rule over the earth (Gen. 1:28 NIV) still stands today.

Because God's command stands in spite of the fall, we can deduce that God still cares about what you do and how you do it. No matter how God has designed you -- brainy or not so brainy, strong or weak, gifted in many areas or good at only one thing -- it is how God has designed you. Your work matters to God even if no one else thinks it matters. It may be "brain surgery" critical to the world or the world could spit on it and care less. That does not matter. What matters to God is that you use what He gave you. In the parable of the talents, Jesus affirmed with praise and increased responsibilities those who use their talents to the glory of God. The one with few talents was rewarded just as much as the one with many talents. The only one who suffered a loss of reward is the one who held his talent to himself and did not use it.

Reflect on YOUR life: Each of us has a unique talent or talents to use in God's remarkable mosaic of work. All different types of work are wrapped up in God's commission to subdue and rule over the earth. I encourage you: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Col. 3:23-24 NIV).

Our Creator God loves you and wants you to know Him! If you would like to contact this ministry for further information or questions, please send your e-mail to:
Email: ministryrequest1@WordTruth.Com
Web Site: WordTruth.Com

Copyright 1999, Randy Lariscy.