²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

    ²⁹ Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

Genesis 1:28-29

Yesterday we saw that God is a worker and made us in his image to work and see that it is good. Here is God’s first description of work addressed to people.

Notice that “God blessed (us)” and gave us these work instructions. Our major God-given tasks of managing the earth and ourselves, being fruitful and productive, were given to us as a blessing. Under God’s original plan, work was assigned to us – this is also in Genesis 2:15 (Adam’s job was to work and take care of the garden of Eden) – and designed to be a blessing, enjoyable and fruitful.

Like a considerate manager, God also provided everything needed, including the food needed to keep living and working. Our life and our work were given as mutually supportive blessings. Satisfaction and pleasure are expected from work in God’s original plan. So why don’t we always experience this now?

 Cursed is the ground because of you; 
 through painful toil you will eat of it 
 all the days of your life.

¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, 
  and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow 
  you will eat your food 
  until you return to the ground...

Genesis 3:17-19

Before disobeying God, people only knew goodness and blessing from God. Disobedience to God introduced a knowledge of evil, which brought threat and fear to our lives. Notice in the bible’s description of this, “the fall”, that God does not curse people for disobeying him. We are still the same people created to work and enjoy working. But our circumstances have changed and we find our surroundings “cursed”, or harder to work with. Since evil now affects us, we know that we can be hurt, so we feel vulnerable (was this, rather than Victorian modesty, why Adam and Eve felt the need to cover themselves when they realised they were naked?)

Since we can be hurt, the work we need to do has a consequence of pain or discomfort. “Painful toil” is a consequence of the fall, but work and satisfaction were still the original design plan for us.

Notice how God is describing the consequences of our situation as a mixture of experiences –

• “painful toil” is a reality, but we will still “eat of (the ground) all the days of (our lives)”
• “thorns and thistles” are obstacles to overcome, but “the plants of the field” are still rewarding and abundant
• “sweat” is a sign that we need to work under stress, but “you will eat your food” as a result

God also had some more help to offer – he got down to some more creation in Genesis 3:21, meeting Adam and Eve’s new needs with “garments of skin”. Even though we mess things up, God still loves and provides for us.

To consider and pray throughout today

• What have I not done as well as I should have today?
• What do I need to seek forgiveness for?