“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”
— Genesis 3:17
After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God could have just wiped them out and started over with a new pair. Instead, he had mercy on them.
That doesn’t mean he let them off. He kicked them out of the perfect Garden, but he didn’t destroy them. He loved them too much. Just like any good parent, he taught them the consequences of being disobedient. Since then, people have had to work for their food, and work hard, with all kinds of obstacles (“thorns and thistles,” v. 18) coming up to get in the way.
But there was still hope in what God did. He said we would eat the food we have to work hard for. It might be “painful toil” sometimes, but we are still allowed to be an important part of God’s creation. Now that’s a God ya gotta love.
Close your eyes and think for a few minutes about the work God has you doing these days — besides “getting an education” and “helping around the house.” Maybe being nice to that girl everybody else teases? Not whining about your lack of a cell phone? Ask God to give you a hand with it. He wants to help you with your work.
More to Explore: Ecclesiastes 3:12 – 13
Girl Talk: Do you ever see things that remind you evil still exists in this world? Have you ever stopped to pray about it?
God Talk: “Lord, thank you that you give humans the opportunity to work for you. Show me what work you’d like me to do. Amen.”
From That Is So Me by Nancy Rue