Our Original Job
I was having a discussion with my brother about two months ago in which I mentioned the great joy that I got out of filling up the bird feeders each morning and watching the birds eat as I sipped my coffee. Without a pause and with a smile on his face he said, “Well that’s because you’re doing your original job, the thing we were all originally made to do.” It was such a simple and pure response and I was struck by its truth. He went on to explain that stewarding the animals was man’s original job and in this simple act of filling up the bird feeders every morning and evening, I was, in a small way, doing that original job.
“This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.” (Genesis 2:4-8)
In the original plan it seems like rain wasn’t a necessity, that water would spring from the ground to feed the plants, but the soil needed cultivating. God’s new creation needed to be taken care of, so God made man. Did you notice when God created the garden? Oftentimes in depictions of creation, it seems we are shown the garden being made and then God makes Adam in the garden, but the garden is made after Adam.
“The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.” (Genesis 2:15)
So the garden is made for the man and he is set in it to tend and watch over it. That’s the first part of our original job, to tend and watch over God’s creation.
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.’ So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals.” (Genesis 2:18-20a)
God continues to create, forming animals from the ground and bringing them to Adam. Adam then named each one and the original job of man is set: take care of the plants and the animals. My wife loves to garden; she loves to plant and care for them as they grow. I see this same love in my mother and sister, as well. The National Gardening Association in 2017 found that 1 in 3 American households grow some form of their food. In a 2019-2020 National Pet Owners Survey, it was found that 67% of Americans own a pet. It seems the urge to care for animals and plants is rooted deep within us. How are you working at your original job? Do you have plants you tend or a pet you care for? There is an unexplainable joy when we do the job God created us to do.
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
—Redeemed
