What he’d brought into the world also caused that world to develop its thorns and thistles. The next two verses not only contain God’s admonition to Adam, they also speak to the problems of working that have existed since sin entered the world.
Till the garden would have been easy. But, now it would bring forth problems, instead of simply bearing fruit. Every difficulty we encounter, no matter what our work is, can be traced back to these thorns and thistles. Every task that seems fruitless, every attempt to get something done that ultimately fails, comes because of this.
Of course, work has success, too. God promises that success will come, when He tells Adam he shall eat the herb of the field. What he is saying, though, is that that herb is going to be hard to come by, much harder than if sin were not present.
Some jobs bring more difficulties than others, of course. In some, it’s the location – a house in a poor market might not sell for man months, even with the best seller. With some, it’s the nature of the job – the best doctor can’t save every patient. Even in a field where that doctor would rarely ever see something bad, there will always be that one case that turns out to be an untreatable cancer. Thorns and thistles come up in every field.
And yet, when all is said and done, that agent can find someone to buy, if the price is low enough. The surgeon in the busiest emergency room, with the worst accidents, will be able to save some. The herb of the field will come. It will just be with a lot of effort, a lot of toil, and a lot of sweat.
