Had Adam and Eve paused to recognize God’s presence-even if they could not see him-they may have chosen differently. He says to the woman, “Did God actually say?” In his conversation with Eve, the serpent refers to God in the third person in a possible attempt to fool Eve from believing God’s presence was with them. The narrative records that the serpent approaches Eve first notice the serpent not only questions God’s character to Eve, but he also questions God’s presence to Eve. Adam’s job was to “work it and keep it.” It might be said that Adam’s job was to water the garden the Lord had planted, and this signifies a cooperative partnership between the planter and the keeper.Īs the Genesis narrative continues, it takes a tragic turn as Adam and Eve succumb to the serpent’s temptation in chapter 3. In Genesis 2:15 (ESV), the Bible records that God put Adam in the garden in order to “work it and keep it.” God did not make Adam a character in a blank canvas, but the Lord had already created and fashioned a beautiful garden, and man’s job was to “work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:8 says the Lord had “planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” Notice it was God, not Adam, who planted the garden. We Weren’t Meant to Work Aloneįrom the beginning, it was never God’s intention for man to work alone. Rather than working only to receive his presents, we should work in such a way that we abide in his presence. Even in the Christian world, work is often thought of as something we do for God, but we forget that work is meant to be something we do with God.
The best way we can glorify God through our work is by seeking his presence in our work. On more than one occasion in his letters, the Apostle Paul challenges his audience to glorify God in all their endeavors ( 1 Cor. What if we never had to work alone again? Christians are often taught to work for the glory of God, and there is no doubt this admonition is based in scripture.