Laboring for the Lord

“Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.” Isaiah 49:4

Several days ago I read this encouraging verse. Then, later that same day, my sister and I were having a conversation with our friends about the ministry. It got me thinking about things.

I honestly couldn’t have said it better than Isaiah. “I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain.” How often have I felt this way? I feel frustration about our ministry and its seeming staleness. People come to church, but people don’t stay in church. Will it always be this way? Will people always be leaving? “Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.” (Psalm 123:3-4) I am filled with the scorn of those that are at ease! At ease in Zion! (Amos 6:1) Those lazy, slop-along Christians who think they can do whatever they want and get away with it! How long will they continue in their paths of wickedness before they feel the chastening rod of God???

Then there are others who were once growing strong in the Lord who are now cold towards the things of God. You see the spiritual regression--the slow decay of all that was once godly and righteous. I see dear folks who have endured enormous hardships, but when they had every reason in the world to quit, they pressed on. They faithfully served the Lord anyway, and they laid up for themselves great treasures in Heaven. But then, as time went on and the fight that drew them to the Lord in their helplessness became less intense, they allowed themselves to be led astray by the flesh. And all the treasure they reserved for themselves in the great storehouses of Heaven were slowly diminished until everything they once had to their name was depleted. What a terrible shame and loss!!! I’m reminded of John’s warning in 2 John 1:8, “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” The scary thing is that we can lose everything we have gained by not being faithful to the Lord, by falling away. If we have laid up treasure in Heaven, we should strive to retain that which we have earned!!! We want to receive a FULL reward!!!

Then there are others with their bad attitudes and contentious spirits. This is not pleasing to the Lord, and it restrains the Spirit from doing the work that needs to be done. One person’s bad spirit affects other people’s spirits. The one who sows discord among the brethren is an abomination to the Lord, according to Proverbs 6:19.

There are lots of things going on in church right now, and many of our families are going through really hard times. Sometimes it seems like we aren’t making any headway. All these things drive me to cry out in dismay, “I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain.”

I am presently reading a book called The Embrace of Grace, by Caleb Thompson, and he not only talks about his prison sentence as a reason for his need of God’s grace, but he compares sickness, joblessness, and so many other things to a “prison” outside of prison. Often in life we are faced with things that affect us in such personal ways that nobody else could even begin to understand. Anything of this nature could be seen as a type of prison. It is your problem, and nobody else can really do anything about it. You are held captive behind the bars of seeming hopelessness.

My family and I went out for a while yesterday afternoon. We got lunch at McDonald’s and then sat in the van looking out over a landing strip near the Schiphol airport. Over lunch, we had a great in-depth conversation about spiritual things. Let me tell you, it was a blessing! I love these precious moments with my family! My parents and I are all reading this book, The Embrace of Grace, and it has impressed many things on our hearts. Dad compared our mission field to a prison. No, we aren’t behind bars; we are blessed indeed by the Lord. There is nothing that we lack. Still, it is not our choice to be in this country. In many ways, Holland is our “prison.” God “sentenced” us to serve indefinitely on this spiritually barren plain called The Netherlands. Dad was born and raised here until he was 12, and after going to the States he never wanted to return. But God called him back to Holland, to his own people, to be a missionary. If it were up to our family, we would not be living here. And then Mom mentioned this: though we have not chosen to live here, and we would rather live anywhere else, she cannot imagine being in any other place. We all quietly agreed. Living in Holland is not our desire, yet, we feel perfect peace about our circumstances. You know what? That is GOD! Only GOD can put you somewhere, where you don’t even want to be, and then make you happy there, though it goes against your will!!! Isn’t that amazing??? As I stared out over the field, past the airport, up, up, up, into the clouds and watched their beautiful formations as the wind blew them into various shapes, I wondered at it all in amazement. What a great God we serve! I praise God that His “prison sentence” was so kind and gentle. I know God won’t give us anything more than we can bear, because 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

And then I thought about Isaiah 49:4. Though at times I groan, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain…yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.” God knows this “prison” I am in! He knows how I long to see some results to this work we have going--this work that often appears to be for naught. I know that “my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.” See that? God knows! He knows my work. He knows your work! And His rewards are with Him! Just keep being faithful! Keep trusting God and waiting patiently for Him!

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” Isaiah 64:4