Isaiah 49:4 But I said, “I have labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.”

Probably every servant of the Lord has felt like this at times. We wear ourselves out and see so little results. It should be a real comfort that this verse is in an undeniably Messianic passage. After all, if Christ felt this way at times, we have no room to complain! The point is that we don’t see the long term results of our labors, because we are anchored at a specific point in time, but God sees the end from the beginning, even many generations in the future, and He rewards accordingly. Once again it comes down to trust. Do we trust God enough to do whatever He tells us, and leave the results up to Him? Every believer is faced with that question, but some recognize it more quickly than others. The immature person is all about “What’s in it for me,” and so gives up when things get rough. A person who is really in love with Jesus will do everything for Him and take joy and satisfaction in the doing, whatever the immediate results might be or not be. As this verse expresses, someone who is totally committed to God will look objectively at their labors, recognize they are getting nowhere, and still say, “Even so, I will trust God.”

Ouch! I’m stepping on my own toes here. Japan has not unreasonably been called “the graveyard of missionaries,” because of the record low rate of return, but it has also produced some magnificent saints. I could name several off the top of my head. I am not to get hung up on numbers or timing, but apply myself fully to the tasks the Lord sets for me. I need to remember that though Jesus preached to multitudes, He invested Himself in the 12, and especially in the three, Peter, James, and John. Even there, some might think the time spent on James was wasted, because he was the first of the 12 to be martyred, but I would imagine he left a magnificent testimony in the process! I have been tempted many times to hang it all up and quit, and even now, with pension funds set to start coming in next year, the idea of “retiring and taking it easy” looms in my mind. That’s an illusion! I am “on duty” for the Lord as long as I am on this earth, and my tour of duty is entirely in God’s hands. I am to be faithful in my obedience, and leave the results up to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the outreach program we had planned for yesterday, to which no one came. Thank You for the good time the church members had singing Christmas songs anyway! Thank You for the other things You’ve led us to plan for this season. We would be thrilled by visible results, but that again is in Your hands. I pray that we would be faithful as a body, so that Your Name may be hallowed and Your kingdom come as Your will is done in and through us. Thank You. Praise God!