Redeemed From Toil!

The Bible tells us that, “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” (Proverbs 10:22) First of all, we must define what rich is. People want to put a number amount on it, and say, “Well, a million dollars is rich. People shouldn’t have that much.” Well, it isn’t enough if you’re two million dollars in debt. So then, we must define what rich is. Not according to our definitions, but according to God’s. The first thing to do when we define rich, is realize that “rich” isn’t a dirty four letter word. No, the word rich is a Bible word. It says that, “Abraham became exceedingly rich, in silver, livestock, and in gold.” Those are material things. Isaac was the same way. So was Job. Jesus tells us that He came so that we could have life abundantly. In the Amplified Bible, it actually defines the word abundant as, to the full, till it overflows. Jesus didn’t limit it to just spiritual abundance. No, He came that we might abound in every area of life. He wasn’t specifying, so don’t go adding words to the Bible to make it fit in your religious, Babylonian mindset, cause that way of thinking is wrong. So then, we are to abound in all of our life.

So, looking at the Bible, we see that God defines rich in many ways. There is financial riches, but if you are sick, you are still poor. If you have bad relationships, you are still poor. You can have money in the bank, and a sick body, and all you are is a sick, poor man who’s got some money. You can have money in the bank, a healed body, and bad relationships, and all you are is a healthy, poor man, with money in the bank and bad relationships. So, God wants us to be rich in all areas of life. You need to change what the word “Rich” means in your mind. You need to equate rich with whole. So, every time I say rich, you say whole. Every time I say whole, you say rich, until you see those two terms as synonymous.

So then, back to Proverbs. The tenth chapter, and twenty-second verse, in the Amplified Bible, we see something very interesting. “The blessing of the Lord--it makes [truly] rich, and He adds no sorrow with it [neither does toiling increase it].” Toiling does not increase the blessing. One translation reads he adds no sorrow, sweat, toil, or hard labor to it. That’s powerful right there. You see, you’re job is to be His vehicle on the earth, to bless others. You’re job is to follow the plan established by God in the Garden of Eden. That is, to dress and keep what the LORD has given you. (if you want some background on this, look at my blog on “The Blessing”) Now, not only is our job to take care of it, or dress and keep what He has given us, our job is to expand the Garden of Eden around us. Now, one of the things that we must overcome is this world’s mentality on how to survive in life. Their idea is that you have to beat your brains out, toiling, working by the sweat of your brow, trying to make ends meet without God. Let me help you understand something about toil.

It doesn’t work.

Toil is a part of the curse that happened when Adam sold out and committed high treason against the Almighty God. We have been redeemed from that curse, according to Galatians 3:13-14. Praise God! We are free from toil! Hallelujah!

Now, that doesn’t mean you aren’t gonna have to work. You are gonna be working harder than you ever have before. However, you aren’t working for a living. You are working for a giving, to be a blessing to those around you, producing the Garden of Eden everywhere you go. You let the Blessing do it’s work, and you live by faith. You trust God to meet and supply all your needs. You aren’t trying to make ends meet, or trying to prosper yourself, you know God has that taken care of. That way, you can wake up ever day say, “Father, I love you. You are so amazing. Thank you for taking care of me, and blessing me beyond anything I could ever hope or dream. Now Father, here I am. Who am I to bless today? What business do you need me to do here on the earth? I live to do Your will, and be a blessing to others. I thank you for showing it to me. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.” That simple prayer, just thanking God blesses the Father so much. He loves when His kids just say, “Thank you.” Now, if you stay thankful, and ask what you are to do with what He has given you, and how you are to bless others, you are truly doing the Father’s work.

So then, we see that toil is under the curse. But, how does operating in this toil affect us? Let’s look at Luke 5. Now, some background for you. Jesus was preaching, and there were so many people, that He asked Simon (Peter) if He could get in the boat, and they launched out, and He preached. Now, He probably preached for a while, and Peter overheard it while he was most likely cleaning the nets. After He was done preaching, He told Peter to launch the boat and set down their nets, so they could receive a catch. You see, Peter sowed his boat, and God was giving Him a harvest of fish. Let’s pick up in verse 5. “But Simon answered and said to Him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing, nevertheless at Your word, I will let down the net.’” There are a few points I want you to see here. The first is that the word translated “Master” should actually have been translated “Rabbi”. As far as I know, it is translated that way throughout the rest of the Bible. Peter’s though was, “Preacher, we’ve been working all night, and now you want to go fishing? It’s the middle of the day.” You see, Jesus wasn’t his master yet, but Jesus was a rabbi. He only called Jesus “Rabbi” out of respect for the title. Peter was tired and wanted to go home. The second point is that he was toiling. That is, he was laboring hard, trying to meet his own needs without God. He should have been living in the Blessing, like a child of Abraham, but he wasn’t. That was why he toiled all night, and had caught nothing. The third point is the final phrase. “I will let down THE NET.” Notice that. One net. Now, if you take the religious glasses off, you will see this. Peter didn’t want to go fishing in the middle of the day. He wanted to go home, eat, and go to bed. So, when the preacher wanted to go fishing, and the preacher said to let down the NETS, plural, Peter said he would let down the NET, singular. That net was a rotten net. He had cleaned all the other ones, and this was the one that was all old, and beat up. He wouldn’t have to clean it after they used it, He could just throw it out.

So, they went out, and let down this rotten old net, and the net started to break. You see, that was a half hearted sacrifice to God. (My next post will deal with that. Never give something that costs you nothing.) People have taught for years that the net broke because there were so many fish. Really? Why didn’t their partner’s net break then? It had to have been a rotten, worn out, no good net. That’s why in verse 8, Peter falls to Jesus’ knees (he would have fallen to His feet, but they were probably knee deep in fish) and repented of what he had done. You see, Peter was thinking like many Christians do today. He gave a piece of trash as an offering, and he was toiling, trying to meet his needs without God. So then, we see that toil drives away our provision, but the Blessing draws it in to us. How else would they have caught all those fish in the middle of the day? Everyone knows that you don’t go fishing in the middle of the day and expect to catch anything. It must have been the Blessing, because Jesus did nothing outside of the Blessing. “I thought He never sinned?” Well, that is true, because He was walking in the Blessing, keeping the covenant.

So then, we have been redeemed from toil. We are redeemed from meeting our own needs without God. We are living in the Blessing, and that is God providing for us. My job is to believe Him, tithe and give, and bless other people. I am supposed to be the Jesus in my workplace, in my school, wherever I go, people should see that Blessing flowing out of me, creating the Garden of Eden. I don’t have to toil to make ends meet. I don’t live on “just enough”, I serve the God of more than enough. He is El Shaddai, not El Cheapo. El Shaddai means, the God of more than enough, and carries with it the idea that if what is needed is not there, God will create it for you.

So, I will try to close with this. Don’t toil. You are responsible to bring God His money, that is the tithe, and sow. You refuse to violate the Love Command, and you look for ways to be a blessing to people all day long. God will take care of your harvest. He says, “As long as the earth remains, seed time and harvest...will also remain.” So, your harvest is coming. A farmer doesn’t plant, and go out the next day, and get discouraged if he doesn’t see anything. No, he keeps watering, and taking care of the ground, and, then lets the seed spring up. Likewise, your heart is the ground. You water it by the word. You keep it weed free by refusing to violate the Love Command. You see, if you violate that command, and become offended, you choke out the seed that was being produce. Your harvest is coming, you just don’t have to toil to get it! You do your part, and let God do His!