God Ordains Work

It is clear in the Old Testament that we are not to sit around idly, being waited on by others. God has placed us here on earth, and he has given us work to do. This applies to the most humble jobs, to the "hewing of wood and the drawing of water" (cf. Deut. 29: 11, Josh. 9: 21, 27), to doing whatever is needed to maintain life and sustain God's created order. "Six days you shall labor, and do all your work," was the way the Fourth Commandment put it. The Eighth Psalm shows how God has entrusted man with the overseeing of his created world:

Yet thou hast made him little less than God,
and dost crown him with glory and honor.
Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands;
thou hast put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

( Ps. 8: 5-8)

Similarly, in the Creation stories, God ordains work for man to do, and this work is good. Work is part of the goodness of creation. Man is to subdue the earth; "and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth" ( Gen. 1: 28). He is to "till and keep" the Garden of Eden (ch. 2: 15).

Even ordinary, unexciting, daily routine work is to be related to God. When a man does a good job of spring planting, for example, he is not to sit back and congratulate himself. He is to give the glory to God. To pat himself on the back is to deflect attention from God to himself-and this is idolatry. Describing the proper way to plow and sow, Isaiah says of a man who knows how, "He is instructed aright; his God teaches him" ( Isa. 28: 26). And after describing the proper way to thresh, he comments, "This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom" (V. 29). All work is related to God, even such commonplace activities as sowing and reaping.

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