DCLM Daily Manna 1 May 2026: Secret of Profitable Labour
Key Verse: Lamentations 2:6
“And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.”
Text: Lamentations 2:6-13 (KJV)
6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
8 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
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When May 1 was first marked as International Labour Day in 1889, the main objective was to honour the dignity of work. Workmen and their engineers and all those involved in productive enterprise were to be celebrated for their priceless contribution to efforts at improving the lot of humanity. But alas, whenever wars and natural disasters occurred, they destroyed the monumental projects of labour, to the horror of their creators.
Jerusalem, the ancient capital of Israel, suffered such devastation in 586 BC, when invading hordes of the Babylonian Army turned its architectural beauty into ashes and pillaged its sacred and iconic temple that took many years and mammoth labour to erect. It was a dark moment in the history of the Jewish nation. Prophet Jeremiah said the gates of the city were sunk into the ground, suggesting complete collapse. The people, their prophets and elders, he said, were all subdued into silence and weeping.
Although God honours beneficial labour, He warns that unless man involves Him in his work, he would be doing it in vain. The workmen putting up the Tower of Babel tasted that pill because they alienated the Lord. Jerusalem, in spite of its global status as a centre of worship, was also at the receiving end of divine judgment. The ravaging of the city came as a result of the sins of idolatry, pride and rejection of the Lord.
Therefore, as the world celebrates International Labour Day, mankind should remember that for the work of our hands to last and be blessed of God, He must be acknowledged as the ultimate workman, whose perfect expertise cannot be put in the margins. His command on work ethics and the need to shun cheating and fraud, must be observed. Our labour can become more profitable to God, ourselves and humanity when we put God in the equation and discharge our duties and responsibilities, not with eye service or as men pleasers, but in line with best practices and godly principles.
Thought for the Day: Our labour becomes more profitable when aligned with divine principle.
The Bible in One Year: 1 Samuel 10-11
DCLM Daily Manna 1 May 2026
