Thursday, September 8, 2016
Genesis 3:17 To Adam he [the LORD God] said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life."
WHEN WORK'S A BURDEN, REMEMBER WHY ... AND GIVE THANKS
The teenager was helping his parents put in the family garden. It was hard work for it had been a dry spring and too many of the seeds were not so much planted as pinned under a dirt clod. At one point the father heard his son mutter in frustration, "Adam, Adam...!!??" The young man knew his Bible; he knew of the curse God pronounced on the ground because of Adam's sin--knew it firsthand. Because Adam and Eve rebelled against God, they and their descendants would have to live in a world insubordinate to them. Because of sin's effects, work often seems to be as much a burden as a blessing.
But this curse God pronounced for our sakes. You see, when work is difficult and burdensome the Lord would have us remember that we are sinners descended from the two who sinned in paradise. We should never forget that--nor how destructive sin is and how far-reaching its effects. In all this it is not the Lord's purpose to "rub it in." He wants us to remember our sinfulness and turn to our Savior, and as forgiven sinners to yearn for the Day when we shall be raised from death and brought into our new home in the new heavens and earth. On that day we will hear the voice of the One who said from His cross: "Today you will be with me in PARADISE."
No wonder then, that when we like Adam (Genesis 3:18-19) sit down to eat with the sweat still wet on our brows, begin the meal by praying: "Come Lord Jesus ..."
