Gary North

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen. 3:17-19).

Adam had a really bad day. Really bad days were his legacy to all of us. It could have been worse. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17).

Adam did not escape responsibility for his act of rebellion. Even though he was tempted by his wife, he could not successfully transfer the responsibility of his action to her, thereby allowing her to take all of the blame for their joint rebellion.

God cursed at him in three ways. First, He cursed the ground. Second, He cursed Adam's labor. Third, He condemned Adam to death. All three of these curses are interrelated. All three affect the way that mankind has worked ever since.

Even though the curse of death was specifically imposed on Adam, it was also imposed on Eve. Even though the curse of the ground was imposed on Adam to make his work more burdensome, the same curse affects Eve. Even though Adam was cursed to work by the sweat of his brow, the same curse affects Eve. Because Adam was in authority over Eve, she bore the curses imposed on Adam. Because creation was under the authority of Adam, it bears the curse of the ground. This is a fundamental biblical principle: those under the authority of a rebel suffer the consequences of his rebellion. It is like a nation that suffers a military defeat because of the incompetence of its military leaders. The civilians suffer.

God cursed the ground for Adam's sake. He did this in order to make Adam's labor more difficult. Adam would henceforth struggle with thorns and thistles. The only way not to struggle with thorns and thistles is to go into a line of work not associated with agriculture. But every line of work as the equivalent of thorns and thistles.

God cursed the ground in order to force Adam to work very hard. In the garden, the fruit was available for the taking. That was the problem with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So, God made it more difficult for Adam. He understood that Adam was now a sinner. Mankind has a proclivity toward evil. The more leisure that men have, the more they are likely to pursue evil pursuits. We know of the phrase, "the devil loves idle hands." The origin of this piece of folk wisdom comes from God's curse of the ground because of Adam's sin. From that point on, Adam would have to spend more time working then sinning.

Not only was the ground cursed, Adam's body was cursed. He would sweat. This meant that labor would no longer be a pleasure for Adam.

In the garden, there was no burden associated with labor. There was nothing wrong with work. The dominion covenant (Gen. 1:26-28) was given to Adam, not as a curse, but as a benefit. The idea that work is a joy comes from the Garden of Eden. Work is not a curse; work has been cursed.

We understand this with respect to the birth of a child. We call the period of pain that the woman experiences "labor." This was the explicit curse on Eve (Gen. 3:16). There is no suggestion or even hint in the Bible that giving birth would have been painful had mankind not sinned. Similarly, there is no suggestion or even hint in the Bible that work prior to the Fall of man was a burden.

Men should no more hate the idea of going to work than women should hate the idea of bearing children. When men hate the idea of going to work, we can be sure that women will hate the idea of bearing children. Both attitudes are part of man's rebellion against God.

Men and women alike hate the curses under which they operate. They resent the fact that they should bear these burdens. But they do not resent the fact that God did not kill mankind on the day that Adam and Eve sinned. They enjoy the sinning, but they do not like the consequences.

A MUCH-HATED JOB

If a man is in an occupation that he hates, he is under a curse. He should do whatever he can to find a line of work which is more suited to his tastes and his skills. He should find work in which he can enthusiastically go to work and give his best efforts. When he does this, he is far more likely to increase his income.

This increase in his income will be paralleled by an increase in his level of personal responsibility. There is never an increase in benefits in this life apart from a corresponding increase in responsibility. We are supposed to increase our level of responsibility.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:47-48).

When a man resents the fact that he has to go to work to earn a living, he will tend to resent the assignments given to him by his superior. When he resents the assignments given to him, he is likely to be a poor performer on the job. When he is a poor performer on the job, he will find that his subordinates do not trust him, and his superiors do not trust them. He finds that he is unable to advance in his career. He cannot increase his level of responsibility.

FINANCE AND RESPONSIBILITY

This is a part of finance. Finance has to do with a person's ability to increase his income. In order to increase his income, he must be willing to accept an increase in responsibility.

People who resent the work they do find that they do not perform well enough to get a promotion. They may want the promotion. They may believe that they will be happy in a new job. They may even say that they would like to bear the responsibilities associated with a different and higher occupation. They want to get promoted. They want to get a raise. They may even want to increase their level of responsibility. But they are not willing to pay the price of these goals. They have counted the cost, and they are not willing to pay the price. They want something -- a promotion -- for nothing: poor performance today.

When men resent their work, they will tend to bring home their bad attitude to their families. They resent the fact that they do not have much money, but they are unwilling to pay the price to earn more money. Their wives resent this, but there is not much they can do about it. The problem is not that their husbands are unable to earn more money. The problem is that their husbands are unable to master the task that they have been given. They are unable or unwilling to demonstrate to their superiors and their subordinates that they are competent performers in their jobs.

Some men may be competent in their jobs, and yet they hate their jobs. Even in this case, when the income seems to be high, a man's potential is limited. It is limited by his unwillingness to take a risk, quit his job, and take another job.

The new job may require a cut in pay initially. He may be in debt, so he cannot accept this job. Similarly, the job may involve being transferred to a new city. He may be unable to sell his house for enough money to pay off the mortgage. He may find that the rental income that the house will generate if he moves away will not cover the expenses of maintaining the house, paying the mortgage, and paying property taxes.

Under these circumstances, he loses mobility. He loses mobility because he is in debt. If he were not in debt, he could take advantage of the opportunities presented to him. Because he cannot take a damage of these opportunities, he limits his level of responsibility. He blocks off access to new levels of responsibility, which will be accompanied by higher income.

This is another reason why couples have should pay careful attention to their budgets. They must limit their debts. One of the most important reasons for limiting your debt is that you do not want to hamper your mobility. This may be mobility in terms of a career, and it may be mobility in terms of geography. The more debt you have, the less mobile you are.

If a man finds that his work is a burden to him, he must either find a new career or get a promotion. I suppose he can also get a demotion, but almost nobody ever thinks of this. You do not hear sergeants complaining about their level of responsibility, telling other sergeants that what they really want is to be demoted to corporal.

The curse of the ground, like the curse of our bodies, is to make our work more difficult. We are now tested by God to see how we will perform in difficult situations. Usually, increased debt limits our performance on the job. Unless the debt is used to buy improved tools or get a better education, the debt hampers our careers. This is why it is important that husbands and wives make budgets and stick to them. The self-discipline involved in making a budget and sticking to it is likely to transfer to other areas of their lives.