Genesis 3:14–19; Ecclesiastes 2:18–26; Romans 8:20–22 - The Frustration of Work

Today we are continuing our series, Work and Our Labor in the Lord. Last week we looked at The Design of Work and saw that work was good, royal, and priestly. But this week we will be looking at The Frustration of Work, why it doesn’t feel this way anymore. And so, we will look at Genesis 3, Ecclesiastes 2, and Romans 8. Don't worry, we'll have the Scripture on the screen for you to follow along in case you need it.

Remember what we saw in the first few chapters of Genesis. God is the chief Worker who created us in His image to work as He works. Work wasn’t introduced because of God's judgment for sin, rather it was what we were created to do to image God.

Yet, for the Israelites during Moses’ time, the Israelites during Solomon’s time, for Christians in the 1st century, and for us today, our work often feels a bit like trying to move rocks uphill, only to lose some along the way. And even when we do that we feel like everyone and everything is fighting us.

Today's passages will show us why our work is frustrating, at times feels meaningless, and why it needs to be redeemed or fixed.

Though our work sometimes feels frustrating and pointless, we know this isn’t the way it should be, yet, this is the reality…work is frustrating. And often, though we know it should be joyful and meaningful, we have no idea how to make it that way. But what if I told you there was a way to find joy, meaning, and value in what we do whether we have a bad day at work or not?

This is the opportunity before us today. In our passages we’ll see not just why our work feels this way, but how Jesus enters our frustration, and redeems it. Let’s turn to Genesis 3:14–19, Ecclesiastes 2:18–26, and Romans 8:20–22.

Genesis 3:14–19 ESV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Ecclesiastes 2:18–26 ESV

I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Romans 8:20–22 ESV

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

What we see from today’s passages is that…

Work was designed to be joyful, not toilsome

In Genesis 1 and 2 we saw that God is the chief Worker, creating Adam and Eve in His image, blessing them and giving them work to do…to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth, to subdue it, and have dominion over everything on the earth. Their food was to be gathered from the plants and trees, not cultivated from a warring soil (Gen. 1:28-30).

Adam and Eve were to work and keep the garden, signifying that they were to worship God and obey Him as they imaged His good work (Gen. 2:15). One of the first tasks given to Adam before the creation of Eve was to name the animals, which he did (Gen. 2:18-21).  We also understand from chapter 1 that Adam and Eve's work was to take the beauty of the Garden of Eden and make the entire rest of the world to be just as beautiful.

In other words, though God created the world good, He invited humanity to bring order beyond Eden…to extend its beauty to the rest of the earth. There were many ‘rocks’ that needed to be moved so that rough places were smoothed and brought into order. Humanity’s work…to make the rest of the world like Eden. And all of this was to be done in a deep relationship with God and one another, working together. Thus, this work would be both joyful and fruitful.

But we don't have to infer this only from Genesis 1-2, our passage today, Genesis 3:14-19, shows this. How? Well, there was no enmity between Adam and Eve before Satan tempted them to rebel against God (Gen. 3:15). There would have been no pain in childbearing, and relationships would have been mutually respectable (Gen. 3:16).

The ground, the very medium through which they were to work, was not cursed. It wouldn’t fight back, cause pain, or end in death (Gen. 3:17-19). Work would have been joyful and meaningful….without toil. In other words, work would not be hard, difficult, or painful.

Even Ecclesiastes reminds us of this: “There is nothing better than that a person should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil… this is from the hand of God” (Ecc. 2:24). If joy in toil is something God gives now in a fallen world, how much more was that His intention from the beginning? From the beginning, work was meant to be both worship and joy.

Finally, Romans 8:20-22 shows us that creation itself understands that the way things are is not right. Our bodies are not what they are, the world is not what it should be. Even creation groans under the weight of the fall, longing for the renewal of all things, a return to the kind of fruitful, joyful labor we were made for.

Even though God gives us the gift of enjoying our toil, and work was meant to be joyful and fruitful, too often…

We toil in frustration and futility

Imagine you’re hired to move rocks up a hill so no one trips on them. You load ten, but halfway up, one rolls back down. You drop another. Someone deliberately pushes two back. You might ask, “Is any of this worth it?” “How do I keep going in this futility?” That’s the weight many of us carry.

Genesis 3 shows us that this toil is real and relational. Because of sin, the ground itself resists us. Work now comes with sweat, pain, and sometimes even blood. Not only that, but our labor can be undone in a moment. Even worse, the very relationships that should help us in our work, often bring enmity and strain. This is painful…

And so, Ecclesiastes 2 gives voice to what we feel: What’s the point? We worry about whether our work will outlast us, or whether it will all just vanish. Even success feels like vapor…here today, gone tomorrow. And even when we succeed, Ecclesiastes warns: we might leave our life’s work to someone who squanders it. That fear haunts many of us.

Romans 8 tells us it’s not just in our hearts…creation itself groans under this futility. The weeds in your garden, the deadlines that never end, the broken machines, the aching body…all testify that this is not the way it’s supposed to be!

And you know what this is like…we have all experienced this:

• Parents: You clean the house, only to have it a mess again in 10 minutes.
• Project managers: You pour hours into a project, and it gets scraped.
• Youth: You study and study, only to find that you didn’t study enough.

When these frustrations pile up, we don’t respond well:

• We grow bitter. We resent the work God gives us…stripping it of the meaning He intended.
• We chase comfort to escape pain. Or we grasp for control to avoid surrender. But neither can give us rest.
• And when we try to prove ourselves through our work, even before God, we end up exhausted, not accepted.

When these things guide the way we think about our toilsome work, it’s not just tiring…it’s a spiritual battleground. Our frustration with work can harden our hearts or lead us to despair. We feel like a man who meaninglessly carries rocks from one place to another and while we do it we are frustrated.

But our souls were not made for this kind of grind. There is deeper hope, even in the toil of our work…

Jesus bore the thorns and the toil of work in our place

In John 1:1–3, we see Jesus as the One through whom all things were made. He is the Chief Worker, sustaining the world moment by moment, as He affirms in John 5:17, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” He didn’t just start creation, He upholds it, shapes it, and rules it.

But Jesus’ greatest work was not in creation, but in redemption.

In Genesis 3:15, after humanity plunged the world into misery and toil, God promised them that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head, defeating the great tempter and rescuing His people. Jesus became that offspring, taking on human flesh and entering our cursed world to do the toilsome work of saving us, at the cost of His bruised heel…his own life.

He became the Curse-Bearer, wearing the thorns of the ground on His head, sweating drops of blood from His brow, and being laid in the dust of death, so that we who were bound to futility might be set free into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21).

But Jesus didn’t go to the cross in bitter resignation. Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.” He was the Joyful Toiler, embracing His work, even the pain, because He saw what it would accomplish: our redemption, our joy, and our restored purpose.

In this way, Jesus is our Rest-Giver. Though His days were filled with sorrow, His labor brought eternal reward. He said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28–29).

So pause for a moment. What burden are you carrying up the hill today? What part of your work feels futile, sabotaged, or simply too heavy? Is it the fear that your effort doesn’t matter? The frustration that no one sees it? The fatigue of doing good with little return?

Jesus sees it. And He carried something far heavier than your load, He bore the cross, the curse, the wrath, and the futility of this fallen world, so that you wouldn’t have to walk alone, or wonder if your work is wasted.

So if you're tired, like a man carrying rocks up a hill that only roll back down or get put back, Jesus invites you by saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus offers this rest, if you will receive His finished work of redemption. Confess Him as Lord, your true and perfect Master, who will never ask more of you than He already bore for you. And when you do, you will see and experience that now…

Our toilsome work is meaningful and hopeful

Even when you feel like a man pushing rocks uphill in futility, and are tempted to quit or do it with a half-heart, you don’t have to.

Because of Christ’s work and the Spirit’s presence, you can endure with joy, patience, and hope, knowing your labor in the Lord is never in vain (1 Cor. 15:58)….it is both meaningful and beautiful

You might be thinking, how can I believe this when my work seems trivial and is so exhausting? When it is sabotaged and destroyed by others or the world’s elements?

The Spirit reminds you that Christ’s own toil was not wasted. Every drop of His sweat, every thorn, and every moment of sorrow was for your redemption. As the serpent‑crusher, He broke the curse’s grip on work. As the bread of Life, living water, and the true vine, He satisfies our deepest need and so in Him we can eat, drink, and enjoy the fruit of our labor. But in our toil, as both you and all of creation groans, you are enabled to live by the Spirit in hopeful expectation.

But He does more than change how you think, He changes who you are. He produces in you the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self‑control (Gal. 5:22‑23). In the Spirit, you endure hardship with grace, abandon resentment, forgive the “thorns” of others, and reflect Christ’s sacrificial love in your everyday work.

Practically, this looks like:

• A renewed perspective: instead of despairing in our toil, saying “What’s the point?”, we see our work, even toilsome work, as worship to God and a way of blessing others, not just survival.
• A transformed attitude in hardship: when work is repetitive, heavy, frustrating, and unfair, we remember Christ’s patience and endurance under toil, and so we endure patiently without bitterness, thanking God that the curse of work becomes blessing in Him. And we can know His own sufferings for us even more.
• A changed view of fruitfulness: instead of working as minimally as we can, just surviving until we retire or die, we work knowing that we’re building for eternity and mirroring God’s good work which is skillful, beautiful, and “very good.”
• A different posture toward others: instead of seeing co-workers as obstacles or enemies, we have empathy for them, since their work is futile without the Lord. So, we pray for them, and we readily forgive them as Christ forgave us.
• A heart aligned to divine sonship: instead of seeing ourselves as servants, working because it is required to earn God’s favor, we work as His joyful children, not for comfort or control, but to reflect our Father and bring Him joy. He gave us this work, so it must ultimately be good for us.

But here is the real question…what do we do now when our work not only feels, but truly is, toilsome and not only lacks joy, but others try to take away our joy? We keep working, not in despair, not in self-righteous striving, but in the Spirit. The Spirit produces patience when work’s thorns cut us. Joy when work feels empty. Love when people are our thorns and thistles. Hope when futility seems final. Why? The Spirit is conforming us to the image of Christ who did all this for us!

So brothers and sisters, lift your eyes to Jesus, the Joyful Toiler. Your emails, diapers, desks, fields, shops…they matter. They are used by God to give good gifts to others, to show them God’s love. Do these things, though difficult, in the Spirit, for they are meaningful and beautiful. And one day, standing before the Lord Jesus, if you are in Him, you will hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.” And hearing these words, you will glorify the Father.