and hustle, only about 10% will become successful and just 1% will get
VERY wealthy. This has always been the case, from generation to
generation. That is why you see some people mess up – do fraud, robbery,
looting, rituals, sleeping with men – all because of money. Thus
destroying their Destiny & Eternity ignorantly.
You have to come from a family that is free from Dark Powers or you seek
Right Prayers to free yourself from such; otherwise you’ll likely mess
up just to make it. The choice is yours, the consequences will be yours,
if you choose the right path or the wrong path. Choose wisely!
Work after the Fall: Fallen, Futile, Flourishing
God made man
and woman in his image for them to be fruitful and multiply, fill the
earth, subdue it, and exercise dominion over the animals. Moreover, God
put Adam in the garden to work and keep it, and he put the woman in the
garden to help the man.
God put enmity between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman, which
means that the people who act like the Serpent and rebel against God
will be at enmity with those who submit to God and obey him.
God
made the woman’s tasks of bearing children and helping the man more
difficult, and he made the man’s task more difficult by cursing the
ground, making toil painful and sweaty, and expelling man and woman from
the garden.
How to Flourish in a Fallen World
Adam’s
descendants have been plunged into sin and exiled from Eden, but God
gave good instruction for his people. In the teaching of Ecclesiastes
and Proverbs, the people of God are taught many things about how to live
and work in the fallen world. That teaching on how to work is
complemented by the positive example of men who worked well that we have
surveyed in our brief consideration of Joseph, Daniel, and Nehemiah.
If
we were to summarize the instructions and the examples, we might say
something like this: know God in all your ways (Prov. 3:5). Enjoy your
work and its fruits as God’s gift to you (cf. the seven statements to
this effect in Ecclesiastes). Hope in the promises and bless the world
(Gen. 12:1-3). Live and work the way that Joseph, Daniel, and Nehemiah
did: seeking to hallow God’s name and to see his kingdom come and his
will be done — in reliance on him for daily bread, forgiveness of sin,
and deliverance from evil — for his is the kingdom, the power, and the
glory forever.
Work under the Old Covenant
We have not
looked at everything the Old Testament has to say on the topic of work
post-fall and pre-Christ, but from what we have encountered we can
accurately summarize the biblical authors’ perspective on work in the
old-covenant era. In terms of the wider narrative, we have seen that
man’s responsibility to work and to image forth God’s character in work
was not abrogated by his sin and expulsion from the garden. God’s
instructions and presence with his people provide the gracious help
necessary for man’s tasks, and those who embrace biblical wisdom will
themselves understand and help others to do the same (Dan. 11:33;
12:10).
The Bible’s instructions for work enable those who
believe to experience God’s presence and blessing though exiled from
Eden. God’s judgment on sin in Genesis 3:14–19 touches every area of
life, and in the lives of Joseph, Daniel, and Nehemiah we see how the
enmity between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman extends
even to the work the righteous seek to do. Joseph’s brothers ended his
career as a shepherd. Daniel’s enemies sought to thwart him and keep him
from working and even living. And Nehemiah’s enemies tried to distract
him, intimidate him, ambush him, and sabotage him as he worked.
Bit
by working with integrity in obedience to God’s commands, by relying on
the Lord and crying out to him in prayer, and by believing God’s
promises, these men fixed their hearts on the city that has foundations
(cf. Heb. 11:10, 16) and sought the welfare of the city in which God had
placed them.
Their work pointed beyond itself as they sought to
exemplify God’s character in what they did. By imaging forth God’s
likeness, they typified the one who was to come, the one who would build
God’s temple and rule God’s kingdom. These anticipatory types of Christ
— Joseph, Daniel, and Nehemiah — were imitators of God in their work,
and they are examples for us.
[written by James M. Hamilton Jr.]
