Is Our World Cursed or Blessed?
- Dr. Shalini Jebasingh
- Feb 24
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 24
FOCUS: Genesis 1:28
Have you ever felt like God is far away from everyday life — as if faith belongs in church but not in the world?
We are going to look at Genesis 1:28 and the “Theology of Blessing.”
I used to read through this verse — “God blessed them…” — and move quickly to “be fruitful and multiply.” But when I read Walter Brueggemann’s commentary, his exposition of blessing helped me pause. This episode is adapted from his reflection on the theology of blessing.
The Distant-God Assumption
Many of us who love Jesus live with the feeling that God is far away from life on earth — separate and not really involved. So, we feel we must take care of ourselves and survive in a big, difficult world. Some even think God and the world are opposed — God completely good, and the world somehow bad. This is not new. In ancient times, the Gnostics thought this.
Many of us make this bifurcation between our absolutely loving and good God and a wicked and evil work because of our disobedience to God and the repercussions of it, in Genesis chapter 3
But here is the amazing truth:
Even after the Fall, God never took back His words that creation is “very good.” The blessing remains the foundation of our world and our work.
But Genesis 1 tells us something very different
It tells us that God made the world beautiful, and He built blessing into the way life itself works.
The word “blessing” appears three times in the creation narrative:
In verse 22, God blessed the animals.
In verse 28, God blessed Adam and Eve.
In chapter 2, verse 3, God blessed the Sabbath.
Before that, God looked at what He made and called it good. And in the final verse of Genesis 1, He called it very good.
The Hebrew word conveys the idea of beauty, loveliness, and pleasing to the eye, like a painting that makes you smile. God looked at His creation and delighted in it.
Blessing Is Not an Afterthought
When we read Genesis 1:28 — “God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’” — we see that blessing is not an afterthought.
God built life and flourishing into creation from the beginning. This blessing is not limited only to those who believe in Jesus. It is woven into the whole world God created.
Our world is full of life because it reflects God — the One who gives life to everything.
We see this in Job 39, where God describes the animal kingdom. The fawns thrive and grow strong in the wilds — because God empowers life to flourish.
Blessing in Genesis 1 is not only about salvation. As Westermann explains, it includes the goodness and life God has built into the world — the power to grow, to form families, to do well, to flourish.
That means when we grow, learn, care for one another, and build our lives, it is not random. God planned life to be abundant from the beginning.
God Is Close to His World
God is not standing far from our world, pointing His fingers at it.
He is close to our world, He cares about our world, and He relates to our world with great love!
John 3:16 reminds us: “God loved the world that He gave His only Son…” Psalm 139 tells us that God knows our thoughts and words before they happen. Hebrews 4:13 says nothing is hidden from Him. Isaiah reminds us that God knows the end from the beginning.
Blessed Rest: Trusting the God Who Cares
Genesis 2:3 tells us that God blessed rest.
Rest is not weakness. It is trust. It is pausing to admire what God has done and knowing He is caring for His world.
Three Truths This Teaches Us
1. We Are Secure and Free
First, God is close to us and faithful in caring for us. At the same time, He gives us freedom. We do not need to hide behind religious checklists to feel safe. We are safe. We are free. And we are free to care for the world as God does.
2. Life Is Not Hostile or Empty
Second, we are not alone. Life is not empty or hostile with a distant God watching from the outside. Life itself is God’s blessing. He is right here, caring for His world and for each of us.
3. We Are Given the Gift of Rest
Third, God has blessed us with rest. We can rest knowing that the One who cares for the lilies of the field will care for us even more.
What This Means for Our Work
How we see our world defines how we engage at work and what we work for.
Do we see our world as cursed, where we struggle to survive?
Or as blessed, where we are invited to care for others?
Genesis 1 invites us to see the world as God sees it — beautiful and blessed.
When we see creation this way, we will work differently. We will lead differently. And we will rest differently.
Abundance vs. Scarcity
Stephen Covey recognized that God has blessed our world and wrote about “Abundance Thinking” — the idea that there is enough opportunity and success for everyone, that we can collaborate instead of compete in fear. Those who understand that God has blessed the world grasp what Jesus meant when He said, “Give, and it will be given to you — a full measure, pressed down and overflowing…”
Viktor Frankl observed in Man’s Search for Meaning that even in concentration camps, some men gave their bread to others. And he found that those who gave generously were often the ones who rebuilt fuller lives afterward.
We have God’s Word. Over and over, He tells us:
We do not need to live in fear of lack. God has blessed us. He has blessed His world.
Living this way might seem unrealistic, but Covey and Frankl will say otherwise, and so will leaders like Dan Cathy from Chick-fil-A.
A Final Encouragement
At work, relate to others around you with generosity and care — because God has blessed you and those around you. And that blessing is not running out.
From all of us at Bible at Work, we wish you the best work life.
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