And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” … the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. (Genesis 3:8-10, 23 ESV)
Fear Not… Then Work
I am afraid of heights. This is not a useful attribute for a house-painter. But one morning, my boss, having disregarded my fear, sent me to paint the eaves of a two-story house. As could have been predicted, I stretched too far, attempting to reach that one far corner… and the ladder and Tom toppled over.
I was on the ground. And I realized that I had not broken any bones. And I realized that the ground was softer than it looked. And I realized that falling fifteen feet was not as bad as I had anticipated.
And my fear of heights, for that summer anyway slithered away.
I got back up. I reset the ladder. I prepared new paint. I went back to work.
Adam did that, too.
He had a different job, slightly. But after his fear was gone, because of God’s Grace and Mercy, Adam went back to work in the garden.
It was not a dazzling, glitzy, showy job. And he rolled up his toga-sleeves and went back to work.
After the fear is lessened… we have work to do! And maybe it is the same work we had before we were afraid.
Fear not, then work.