Grace and Work 2

Grace and Work 2

By Apostle Felix

11  On the day following Passover—on that exact day—they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 

12  The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land. Since the Israelis no longer received manna, they ate crops from the land of Canaan that year.

Joshua 5: 11, 12

Work is in the divine plan of God. Every purpose of God for an individual can only be fulfilled on the premise of work. Jesus is our example. Jesus’ birth was a miracle. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, without man’s participation. But yet, He did not abuse His position as the Son of God to escape work. He worked because work is part of God’s plan. Jesus was not going to help his father as a carpenter, if work was not necessary in God’s program. He was only going to be performing miracle money for His parents to buy food and clothes for the family. But He never did that. He worked like everyone in the community, and went through common struggles of no money, no enough food and so on and so forth.

51  And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

Luke 2: 51 

55  Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 

Matthew 13: 55

Jesus subjected Himself to His parents even in the area of work. He worked as a carpenter in the family business of carpentry. Jesus was grace personified but yet He worked. He left His family business when he started ministry. He began to do His Father’s business, which was preaching the Kingdom of God.

34  Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 

John 4: 34

God delivered Israel from the Egyptian slavery so that He could deliver them into the land that flowed with milk and honey, the promised land. Milk and honey come from cows and bees respectively. The language was used figuratively, of course to communicate the potential the land had to produce wealth and riches. Milk and honey are products of work. You have to extract milk from the cow for you to have milk, and you have to harvest honey from the beehive to enjoy the honey. None of the two come without work. The land which God had given to Abraham and his descendants is rich in oil. The middle east is known for its huge oil reserves. Work makes the extraction of oil possible. Most of the nations in the middle east are oil dependent. They work to extract and refine oil. The promise God had made to Abraham also included work. He took Israel from rigorous work that was imposed on them without any form of reward. They were slaves,  an impoverished nation. They were subdued and dominated over by another nation. All the work they did was not to their benefit but the Egyptians. So God delivered them from slavery and took them into a land where they will be able to work to their benefit. Work has the power to break some limitations. The limitations poverty imposes on people and nations can be broken by work. Of course, this is not a suggestion to rely on your own strength but it is a reminder to everyone that work is from God, and He uses it to release the blessing to His people.

19  When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. 

Deuteronomy 24: 19