{This post is part of my 31 Day blog series Work Hard + Rest Well: Learning Obedience in the Rhythms of Work and Rest.}
“And I know that I can’t do it all, but somehow I still feel that I must do it all.”
Day 8

Because we were made to work.
But sometimes it feels like our work is broken. And it is…

“And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.”
Genesis 3:17

And although we were made in the image of a God who works, our work has also been cursed because of sin. Work will never be the constantly fulfilling and gloriously satisfying like it was before the fall.

“Adam worked before the curse, but it was all joy. Now work has a cursed element to it, with pain and weariness a part of work.”
David Guzik

So we are called to work and we are created to work, but because of sin our work will never be easy or painless.
And it can all begin to sound so wearying.

But we serve a God who redeems and restores our brokenness.
We serve a God who heals our wounds and restores our souls.
We serve a God who leads us to peace and rest.
We serve a God who rejoices over us and delights in our working for Him.
We serve a God who is ever working on our behalf.

You have to start from a place of knowing.

You have to know that work is hard.
You have to know who you are working for.
You have to know why you are called to work.
You have to know that you’ll never, ever be able to do it all.
And you have to know that work is broken.

Because of sin.
Because of the fall.
Because of the choice that each of us would have made had it been ours.

You have to start from a place of knowing, because if you don’t know there is a problem then you won’t ever seek a solution.

Our work is broken.
But our God is the Restorer of Brokenness.
Our God is the Giver of Strength.
Our God is the Source of Life and Power.
Our God is the Solution.

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31

Our whole approach to work, is broken. Work itself, as God intended it, is broken. But we have strength that is not broken. We have access to the Creator of work, the Master Workman Himself. He has promised His strength to us if we seek Him.

So let’s seek Him in our work today.
This isn’t a call to pull your self together and to work hard and get more organized. This is a call to recognize your brokenness and humble yourself before your Creator, asking for His power and strength in you.

Will you join in me in recognizing our brokenness? And will you join me in rising up in the strength which God supplies?

Be blessed
<3