The Value Of Everyday Work

The Value Of Everyday Work

When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

Genesis 29:10

As the head of God’s people and a light for the world, Jacob was an extremely important person. He had the blessing and the promise and had even heard God speak to him. It’s remarkable that he lived as if he had nothing at all. He lived like an ordinary person and did everyday work, actions for which God doesn’t give any specific instructions in his Word. God didn’t tell Jacob how he would help or direct him, how things would turn out, or whether there would be a good harvest in any given year.

Accordingly, we should never say, “I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I won’t do anything.” God tells us to do the best we can and leave the rest to him. He didn’t promise that everything we do would be successful. We don’t need to know what’s going to happen or how everything is going to turn out. We should simply do our assigned work to the best of our abilities.

In the Bible, we hear about the impressive and heroic acts of our ancestors in the faith. Along with these, we also hear about the humble, unpleasant, and distasteful work they had to do. This should comfort us whenever our everyday work bogs us down. Then we won’t feel depressed or fall into despair, thinking that God will despise us. Instead, we should realize that all work is made holy through God’s Word and our faith. But the world doesn’t view work in this way. They think that reading stories about people in the Bible doing common, everyday tasks is a waste of time. Only believers are able to see and understand that God is at work in these ordinary activities. This work is precious, not only in our sight, but also in the sight of God.