God Provides Through Our Work

A Christian Perspective on Work, Part 3

I don’t play Ohio’s State Lottery. I know that many who confess to be Christians do.

I don't hope to make money by playing the lottery. God has created us to work. And one of the benefits of the work of our hands is that it provides for our needs.

We should agree with the Teacher when he says,

“This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for people to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives people wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19)

Work is a good thing in that it is the means by which God wants to provide not only for us, but for others as well.

“Those who have been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need” (Ephesians 4:28).

But, as with all good things, we humans warp this - we begin to think that we are able to take all the credit for the provision our work gives.

“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:17-19)

There are many reasons why it is good to work. One of them is that it is the means by which God provides for our needs. When we work hard, we should be able to experience God’s provision in our lives (though the Fall gets in the way of this a lot! More on that later). But if we are lazy, that provision from God is less likely to be found.

“I went past the field of a sluggard,
________past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
_____thorns had come up everywhere,
________the ground was covered with weeds,
________and the stone wall was in ruins.
_____I applied my heart to what I observed
________and learned a lesson from what I saw:
_____A little sleep, a little slumber,
________a little folding of the hands to rest—
_____and poverty will come on you like a thief
________and scarcity like an armed man.” (Proverbs 24:30-34)

A Christian Perspective on Work:
Part 1: The Imago Dei and God the Worker
Part 2: Satisfaction in Work
Part 3: God Provides Through Our Work
Part 4: Work in Community for Community