In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. GEN 3:19.

A principle we can learn from our text is our need of labor. We may not sit back waiting for the Lord to provide the things for which we prayed. We must earn our bread through much labor as a result of the curse God laid upon Adam in the Garden of Eden.

The principle of labor is taught throughout Scriptures. In 2TH 3:10 we read, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." That means one must work if one wishes to eat; Scripture teaches the need to labor for our daily bread.

2TH 3:11-12 says, "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread."

This is another teaching of the necessity to work. PRO 13:4 says, "The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat." The soul of the person who works diligently will prosper.

We read in PRO 24:30- 34, "I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man."

The Lord teaches us that He provides, but we are not to sit idly by and wait for Him to provide; we must labor and be diligent. ECC 10:18 teaches us, "By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through."