Faith @ WorkNäide

Have you ever shaken your head in dismay at your workplace’s systems or processes? Have you ever watched people make decisions that protect only their own interests? Have you ever been frustrated that work is not going the way you want it to?

If somebody were to sit down with you and ask you to list three problems with your workplace, how long would you have to think before you could respond? If you ask questions like “Can God resolve these problems?” or “Will God fix them the way we want them fixed?” you run the risk of doubting God’s Word, as Adam and Eve did.

Every aspect of Adam’s work in the garden was enjoyable. He got up every morning, and together with his wife, Eve, they performed the work God called them to do.

Suddenly, a workplace disaster of cosmic proportions occurred.

Satan commissioned Pride, disguised as a serpent, to interrupt Adam and Eve in their work. Satan’s words were enticing, “You will be like God.” Pride’s twin sister, Shame, lurking in the shadows, watched with glee as Adam and Eve put aside their work, doubted God’s Word, and succumbed to temptation. Sin entered into God’s perfect creation.

Everything changed in that moment. Yet nobody stopped breathing. The Earth didn’t stop turning or orbiting the sun. But the consequences of sin, of not trusting God, started to ripple throughout the world.

From that moment when sin entered creation, all work became hampered by pain, thorns, and thistles. Frustration, dissatisfaction, and fruitlessness marred all work. Apart from God, work became a means to find identity and self-worth. Unity and love was replaced with deceit, blame, manipulation, comparison, competition, disunity, and strife. Work and God’s creation became a means to satisfying personal desires, controlling one’s destiny, and accumulating power.

Could anything be done to remediate this catastrophic, cataclysmic event?

This dire situation wasn’t beyond redemption! God didn’t pull out a contingency plan to try to mitigate the damage. He didn’t invoke the angelic emergency response team. Because of his sovereignty, he remained completely in control.

By his grace, God gave Adam and Eve the privilege to continue to be participants in his story. By his grace, God continued to allow his creation to be fruitful and multiply, although it would be painful. By his grace, God continued to offer provision for the physical needs for existence, although thorns and thistles would make life more difficult. By his grace, God offered provision for the emotional needs for survival as he clothed Adam and Eve, covering their shame and nakedness. By his grace, God offers provision for the spiritual needs for survival through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus. By his grace, God delivers hope for a future workplace in a new heaven and a new earth untainted by sin. By his grace, God makes available a path to unity with him and with others.

By His mercy, God allows each person to accept or reject his grace.

This isn’t the storyline that Adam and Eve expected. Nor is it the storyline that anybody anticipated. This is God’s story!

This is a story the angels watch with bated breath (1 Peter 1:10–12; 1 Tim. 3:16). This story of grace is a tale of redemption that is playing out today in the world and in your workplace. Your workplace is part of God’s story. By his grace, God is weaving your workplace into his story. Since you aren’t the author of the story of your workplace, this story won’t unfold the way you expect, but it will unfold in accordance with God’s grace.

If God can take the worst cataclysmic event in history and turn it into a story of redemption, what could God do in your workplace?

Prayer

Almighty God, I thank you that you are aware of everything that is happening at my workplace. Help me to trust you to weave the drama of my workplace into your story of grace and redemption. Amen.