An Introduction to AVODAH WITH GOD: Working with God, God's Way

We’re laying the groundwork for God’s beautiful design for faith-filled work, service, and worship. More to come on: Avodah with God; Why does it matter to God? and What does it mean for us?

Understanding Avodah with God

Let’s start with a question: What if your work—your 9 to 5, your house chores, your endless emails—was actually worshipful and pleasing to God? Not just something you do to pay the bills, but something you do with God, something that serves God and draws you closer to Him?

I know. That may seem like a wild concept. Work? That’s a job. It’s what you do for 40 or so hours every week to make a living. Service? That’s something you do at a food pantry or volunteer work in your free time. Worship? That’s Sunday morning. Hands raised, eyes closed, singing our hearts out at church. But what if the Bible says otherwise?

What if your daily work—whether you’re a barista, a business owner, a mom changing diapers, or an artist starting a new project—is meant to be sacred?

What if we could learn to work with God, like partners, in whatever He guides us to do and pursue?

What if “work” looked like staying keenly aware of God’s presence with us, working as though serving the Lord rather than men, and intentionally rejoicing, praying, & giving thanks throughout the day?

If so, our lives, perspectives, and impacts would look very different.

Work, for most of us, is exhausting. We can love what we do and hate what we do, sometimes in the same day. We can view our our jobs and roles in many ways depending on how we feel about what we do for work.

On one end of the spectrum, we may loathe work and see it as strenuous toil (thanks to the Fall), as a “necessary evil.” We’d love to do something else, or even work as little as possible, but everything costs money, so we have to work. We dread Mondays because we know what’s coming: coworkers, bosses, calls, meetings, deadlines, and boring to-dos sprinkled with seemingly unnecessary responsibilities you wish you could offload to someone else.

Alternatively, we may feel indifferent about our work. “It is what it is.” It may be “just a paycheck” or it just really doesn’t seem to matter. Perhaps it doesn’t seem personally meaningful or impactful when compared to other roles or professions that are “really making a difference in the world.” We may not resonate whatsoever with our role, job, or career.

On the other end of the spectrum, we may see our work as our primary source of identity. “I am a…” (fill in the blank).

“I am an artist,”

“I’m a sales manager at…”

“I am an owner of…”

“I am an entrepreneur,”

“I am The Assistant to the Regional Manager…” etc.

Our role might give us a deep sense of pride and meaning, as well as stress and anxiety motivated by fear. We can idolize work. We can see our work as the means through which we achieve our dreams, overcome challenges, build a career, build wealth, and grow as an individual. We can adopt a self-sufficient, self-dependent, self-centered belief system built on pride. “My time, my money, my life: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.”

We can do all that we do, strive for 40+ hour weeks, and even build a career over a span of years or decades, all without being aligned with God’s design for our work, without recognizing God presence, relying on His grace and wisdom, or partnering with our ever-present God who longs to empower us with the ability and desire to do His will and let His light shine through us to those around us as ambassadors of Christ and His Kingdom.

According to God’s Word, He is the one working in and through us to make a lasting impact.

13 “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” - Philippians 2:13

According to God’s Word, He is the one who gives us the strong support we need.

9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him…” - 2 Chronicles 16:9

If our Maker has the final word, then our perspectives should align with His Word revealing His will.

Adapting our beliefs according to God’s will regarding our work is an urgent matter because God’s will matters.

Most of us are spending eight or so hours a day doing something. That’s one-third of our day. That’s at least half of our waking hours, five+ days a week, for 40+ years of our lives! There must be a better way for us to approach our work. The question then becomes: How do we work with God and do it God’s way?

Avodah: A Word That Changes Everything

The Bible talks a whole lot about work and service. It also has a lot to say about praise and worship. In my research, I’ve found there are only a few commands from Genesis to Revelation that are mentioned more than the Hebrew noun Avodah (עֲבוֹדָה) and verb Avad (עָבַד)—the action of avodah. The word love, for example, occurs 551 times in 505 verses in the Bible (ESV). The following are the number of times these key themes are mentioned in Scripture: faith (278x), hope (151x), praise (207x), joy (179x), give thanks (128x), rejoice (161x), serve (213x), work (367x).

The Hebrew noun Avodah (עֲבוֹדָה) and the verb Avad (עָבַד) help to unveil God’s original design for our work. This concept appears 441 times in the Old Testament, and depending on the context, avodah primarily gets translated to English in three different ways:

* Service—as in serving God and others.

* Work—as in labor, our daily physical efforts toward a goal.

* Worship—as in bowing before God in intentional thanks, praise, adoration, &/or celebration of God.

Avodah reveals the multifaceted nature of God’s design for us to partner with Him.

What is the equivalent to Avodah in the New Testament?

In the New Testament, we find another word that closely reflects the heart behind avodah, the Greek word latreuō (λατρεύω), pronounced (lat-ryoo'-o). Latreuō highlights the concept of worshipful service devoted to God. It is most often translated into English as serve. For example, we find the word latreuō in Jesus’ words in Matthew 4:10,

“Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you (latreuō) serve.’”

We also see the word latreuō translated as worship. I think latreuō is best defined by Hebrews 12:28-29,

28 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us (latreuō) offer to God acceptable (latreuō) worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.”

Another example of latreuō translated as worship is found in Revelation 22:3,

“No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will (latreuō) worship him.”

Based on God’s Word, it is clear that we are designed to “avad with God,” that is, to work with, serve, and worship Him. Avodah with God is not just from 9-5, or as a volunteer every so often, or on Sunday mornings. Avodah is our response in faith to who God is and all He has done. There is no man-made separation between the “spiritual” and the “secular” here. This may seem crazy to us, but only because we have made distinctions between work and service and worship, between sacred and secular.

There’s no hard line between what happens in church and what happens at your desk, your home, your job site.

We are designed for avodah with God.

We are designed for meaningful work and worshipful acts of devotion over the long run.

Avodah with God is about God’s children walking in a manner worthy of their calling, utilizing their gifts, time, and talents to serve God by serving others and glorify God through their work.

Our God cares. Our God sees, and our God is for us, working in us, ready and willing to give us both the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him. That is good news!

*An important note: The call to “avad with God” does not negate the fact that there are set apart moments for wholehearted, undistracted worship. The Hebrew word šāḥâ (שָׁחָה) (pronounced shaw-khaw'), mentioned 172x in the Old Testament, and Greek word proskyneō (προσκυνέω) (pronounced pros-koo-neh'-o) mentioned 60x in the New Testament, highlight the need to bow before the Lord in reverence and submission.

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