Go to the Work

1. Go the work, the work of God’s own choosing,
    With all your heart, with happiness press on;
The work is His, who gave you the position,
    And what God does is always rightly done!
Go to the work, and sow the seeds He gives you,
    It’s not your place to make them sprout and grow;
But trust the Lord to bring them to fruition:
    A thousand ways, of which you do not know.

2. Go to the work, with God’s love in your actions,
    Be just and fair, considerate and kind;
But also firm, forever evil hating,
    And leave all sloth and laziness behind.
Go to the work, but do not think of money,
    Or of reward, or castles in the sky;
But just go on, and use the strength He gives you,
    Look for the need, take up the work that’s nigh.

3. Go to the work, with God’s joy overflowing,
    A willing tool, a vessel in His hands;
A chosen one, a messenger for heaven,
    To bring His life and healing to all lands.
Go to the work, and never look behind you,
    Though it is dark and difficult to see;
Take up the cross, and rush into the battle,
    God holds the stars, He’ll give you victory!

4. Go to the work, for working is a blessing,
    God saw His work, and said that it was good!
He gave to man some labor under heaven,
    That by this school, God would be understood.
Go to the work, for it is preparation,
    Our mind and thoughts are form’d for heav’nly things;
To higher realms, we soon will be promoted,
    And then we’ll work before the King of kings!

Playback

Instrumental – Sampled Sounds

Download
MP3 – Congregation (from Germany)
MP3 – Congregation (#2 from Germany)
MP3 – Congregation (from Australia)

The fall of man brought some radical changes to life on earth. whereas before the climate was even and pleasant, after there were storms; before nothing died, after there was death; before food grew plentifully, after man would have to sweat to grow food; before there was no pain or sickness, after there was pain and sickness.

Sin has a darkening effect on our minds, and causes us to look on God as the originator of these problems, and that He is pressing us down and making us suffer because He is unhappy with our sinful behaviour. This leads to attempts to escape from these consequences, and to make life easier. Much of our modern society, with its many inventions, is simply this—an attempt to escape from the unpleasant consequences of sin.

But this attempt reveals that we have a very erroneous view of God. The results of sin were caused by our actions, and because of the freedom that God gives to His creatures, we were allowed to do those actions, and then suffer the consequences. But God did not leave us there. He promised that these consequences would be the very means, in His hand, of bringing us back to an ideal world again. The thorns, thistles, trials, pain, and sweat, that make life unpleasant, are the things that we need in order to show us our weakness and our need of help from One greater than ourselves. He promises not to change the circumstances, but to so change our inner man, that these same hardships will be the tools He uses to form characters of patience, trust, perserverance, and hope.

John 17
¹⁵ I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil.

The “evil” that Jesus asked His Father to save us from, was not the duty of work, but the unbelief that makes that necessary work a burden.

So in which way do we approach our work, and the hardships of life: as something to be avoided?…something we tolerate and endure, gritting our teeth?…or as a great blessing given from the Father of love? It is our choice. One way is the way of doubt and unbelief, the other is the way of faith. Where there is great faith, there will be great work, and great joy in the work.

This song was written to encourage us to see work, especially work as done in cooperation with God, as a great blessing. For a deeper understanding of how we are to cooperate with God in our lifework, see the book, Entering into God’s Sabbath Rest.

Tags: Work