Every Job Is Hard – May Devotional 2024

Every job is hard.

I’m not saying that we can’t find joy, meaning, purpose, and satisfaction in what we do for a living, BUT there are hard things about every job.

Obviously, there are varying degrees here. Being a riveter working on the frame for the Empire State Building in the 1920s was harder than my teenage son having to enter every price in the checkout lane because they aren’t allowed to use scanners. Having an abusive boss is harder than being dissatisfied with your company’s health benefits (or lack thereof). Even being bored at an easy job can be hard on your soul! I submit to you that there isn’t a job that exists that doesn’t include hard things. Every job is hard.

It’s OK. We can do hard things.

We have been since the beginning of time. Our jobs being hard is a direct result of what Bible scholars call “the fall” from Genesis 3. Verse 19 of that chapter says:

By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food…

But we were created to work. Work isn’t a result of “the fall”. Work being hard is! Look what the Biblical account says a little earlier in chapter 2 verse 15 – before “the fall” happened.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

We were created with a job to do before “the fall”! Have you noticed the difference between work being hard versus the satisfaction that comes from working hard and pursuing excellence despite the challenges we face? It’s all part of God’s good plan for us. That’s why it’s so fulfilling when we persevere through hard things and overcome them. It serves as a small glimpse of Eden for us – how things were meant to be before we rejected God’s good authority. When we were working hard as God designed us to do and taking care of things with His glory in mind instead of our own. We love to bring order out of chaos because God made us like Him – in His own image!

If we approach our jobs or careers with a mindset and attitude that it should be easy, we’ll end up dissatisfied all the time. But if we have a realistic expectation that we will encounter hard things in our jobs or careers, maybe we can rise above those things and strive to restore a little bit of Eden in the world. A life focused solely on our own comfort will leave us wanting. A life rightly ordered, that is seeking God’s glory and resting in His mercy and grace, gives us the perspective we need to rise above the challenges we face – no matter how hard they are.

What is causing the “sweat of your brow” today?

What’s most important to you in life? What do you do when you face hard things in your job or career? Let’s keep the conversation going.