God's Work and Ours

Scripture Reading: Psalm 90:16-17

Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands.

Moses concludes the Psalm with a plea concerning the work of God and the works of men. At first blush, it appears that he divides the work, so to speak. It seems like he is saying there is a work God does and a work man does and that they are distinctly different. That is only a partly true way of looking at this.

Yes, there are the works of God which we have no part in. The only thing we add to our salvation is our sin which makes it necessary. Redemption is a glorious work of God from beginning to end.

What about the work of our hands? Yes, we have work to do. God created us for that. Work is a gift from God. But we shouldn’t overlook the fact that Moses brings up the work of our hands in the form of a blessing or a prayer. It is a prayer that is repeated for emphasis. “Establish the work of our hands!”

We have work to do, but the enduring value, the spiritual importance, and the fruitful success of that work will depend on the blessing of God.

There is a work of God that we can only see and be in awe of. There are works that we do, and we need the Lord’s blessing in the doing of them. God can work alone. We cannot. Seek His blessing and help in all you endeavor to do, and do it all for His glory.