Avodah is derived from the root word, “abad” which has three distinct yet intertwined meanings: worship, work, and service. It appears some 400 times throughout the Old Testament with the first mention in Genesis 2, where God commanded Adam and Eve to work and watch the garden of Eden.

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

Genesis 2:15 (HCSB)

In the first chapters of Genesis, we read that God created a garden for Adam. While Adam was enjoying God’s presence and rest, he was told to work and watch the garden. The double command of God was a priestly call to Adam. These two words, “work” (abad) and “watch” (samar) were used later by Moses to describe the unique service of the Levities who were called to help the priests in the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:7-8; 8:25-26; 18:5-7) and afterwards in the Temple.

The parallel connection between the garden and the Tabernacle/Temple and the depiction of Adam as a priest set a clear and repeated pattern for the Old Testament priesthood and subsequently the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus and our royal priesthood as believers in Him.

In giving Adam a specific job to do in the garden, God also uniquely created us in Christ for every good work (Ephesians 2:10). God cares about what we do just as much as He cares about who we are. Too many people feel that God is only concerned with "spiritual" matters and not interested in the other aspects of life. This explains why we usually take a truncated approach to worship and work and service —worshipping on the weekends, working during the week, and serving whenever we find the time. Instead of integrating our faith life with our work life, we have isolated our faith life and work life into sacred and secular spheres.

The Apostle Paul encourages us to conduct our work as a kind of worship to the Lord

Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Ephesians 6:7 (NLT)

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men.

Colossians 3:23 (HCSB)

We are not supposed to live with a dichotomy of the sacred and the secular.

We were made in God’s image and designed to live a continuous and seamless life in which worship, work, and service are intertwined and integrated rather than separate components competing for our attention and time. If you don't see life the way God sees it, you won't act the way God wants you to act.

The Avodah life is a worship-oriented life, as opposed to a work-centred life. The more capable you are of working with a worshipful heart, the more capable you are of resting in God’s grace and sufficiency in all things.