“…Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17b-19
Even as God cursed man in righteous judgment, His was mercy mingled with His verdict. Humanity was judged and cursed because of their failure to obey God’s command. Adam and Eve were ejected from the garden where they had enjoyed fruit that grew from plants and trees that God Himself had planted. The curse took away their abundant provision and forced them to pound dirt and tangle with thorns, through sweat and hard toil, for food. And the curse remains to this very day. Difficult toil and frequent hardships are common occurrences.
The curse is justly deserved. How is it then – how can I account for blessings such as rich soil, profitable work, and pleasant circumstances that often fall upon me? Thorns are common, but so are rich banquets. Thorns are due to my own sin, the ground is cursed because of me; so what causes it to produce good crops? It is all because of God’s mercy. God’s mercy is profoundly poured out upon fallen and sinful man. Our work has been cursed. As a result hard toil often results only in thorns. When I get thorns I am receiving justice. I deserve nothing better than thorns for my toil. Yet so often the ground yields fruitful harvests. Even in His cursing, God’s mercy stands forth.
Living under the curse means that all thorns are well deserved. I cannot justly complain when my toil yields no fruit, or when I am pricked. How much more culpable I become when I add bitterness toward God’s righteous judgment when I experience trials. What’s worse is my guilt if I fail to give profound thanks for the many undeserved blessings God grants in spite of the curse.
If the cursed life contains so much of God’s mercy, how much more is God’s mercy and goodness manifest in the cross! That I often have plates full of good food during my days under the sun is a profound mercy. That He would grant me forgiveness through the death of His own Son is amazing grace indeed. Not only this, but through the cross, God reverses the ultimate effect of the curse’s thorns. He conscripts them as particular means of blessing for my good! God’s blessing of redemption does not just remove the end result of the curse – death, but it also changes the effect of each occasion of hardship. Trials turn to gold. Toil, in the Lord, becomes blessed. Thorns turn my heart to Lord and produce humility which leads me into deeper experiences of His grace. How incomprehensible and vast is the mercy of God! For my sin I at least deserve the enduring effects of the curse; toil and thorns are gentle in view of what I deserve for my sins. But God’s redemption is so thorough that it will not leave even the prick of a thorn unconverted. The common and simple rewards that so frequently correspond to hard work are great demonstrations of God’s mercy. How much more is justification from sin?
Not even painful trials can hurt me for God uses even trials two bless and improve my life. If thorns lose their prick and toil becomes blessed in the Lord, what curse remains toward those who so richly deserve it? None, for my Lord became a curse for me, as He hung on the tree. Now, even as I dwell on the cursed ground of the earth, God turns even thorns and thistles into helpful prods and loving pricks’ that direct my steps toward Christ. The mercy of God triumphs over judgment, to the glory of God and the eternal joy of His people.
Thank you Jesus, for becoming a curse for me so that the curse I deserve is lifted and its effects no longer harm, but help me. Therefore, Lord, use every trial to draw me, and every blessing to remind me of your abundant grace and impossible mercy. Amen.
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