WorldMagBlog is doing a series on “Vocation Day”. That’s vocation, as in “work”, not vacation.
Vocation Day 1
Vocation Day 2
Vocation Day 3
Vocation Day 4
Man had work to do right from the start. God created man to subdue the earth, to have dominion over the animals, to till the ground, to tend to the garden. And He gave him a wife to help.
I always envisioned Eden as a place where Adam and Eve would while the time away, picking fruit as they wished, petting the friendly lions, chatting with each other and with God. But this is not so. The world was not _fallen_ and cursed yet, but it was not _cultivated_ or subdued either. And that was Adam’s job. Subdue the earth.
Work is harder by virtue of the curse. Now the garden must not just be tended, but it must be weeded and you have to deal with all those thorns and thistles. It will take our hard work to even be able to eat. The earth will still yield, but it’s much harder now.
Even so, Ecclesiastes tells us over and over that work is good. It is a gift from God. We should enjoy our work _and_ the rewards of our work.
But not all work is enjoyable. “The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them” (Ecc 10:15). “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eath the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep” (Ps 127:2).
For God’s elect, with a proper view of work, we know that God will repay us for the work we do (Eph 6:5-8). God’s will is that we “study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands”.