Saturday, September 11, 2010
Psalm 128:1-2 (ESV) Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
OUR WORK, GOD'S MASK
Martin Luther described work as one of the "masks" behind which the Lord chooses to be hidden as He works in our world for our blessing. From God's word he learned that the connection between our work and the blessings bestowed through that work was not causal but command and promise. God commands us to work and promises to bless us when (not because) we do. Luther notes:
"When riches come, the godless heart of man thinks: 'I have achieved this with my labors.' It does not consider that these are purely blessings from God, blessings that at times come to us through our labors and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors; for God always gives them because of His undeserved mercy. He uses our labor as a sort of mask, under the cover of which He blesses us and grants us what is His, so that there is room for faith and we do not imagine that by our own efforts we have gained what we have."
Therefore, Luther comments in connection with Psalm 128:2:
"Your work is a very sacred matter. God delights in it, and through it He wants to bestow His blessing on you. This praise of work should be inscribed on all tools, on the forehead and the face that sweat from toiling. For the world does not consider labor a blessing. Therefore, it flees and hates it. ... But the pious, who fear the Lord, labor with a ready and cheerful heart; for they know God's command and will. Thus a pious farmer sees this verse written on his wagon and plow, a cobbler sees it on his leather and awl, a laborer sees it on wood and iron."
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
