A Task for You

Generally, a physically healthy and mentally adept person feels the need to work. Why? Because there is a certain satisfaction in a job well done, and through it, we secure our livelihood. In Ecclesiastes 9:10, we find wise advice on how we should carry out our work: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” A well-known proverb also says: “Work well begun is already half done.” A talented and capable businessman, who became unemployed due to the dissolution of the company he worked for, expressed: “Unemployment is one of the most toxic situations we can encounter.” 

If we have the ability and opportunity to work every day, what is our attitude towards our work? Shouldn’t all our complaints about unsatisfactory conditions at our workplace cease? It seems that there is more negativity today than ever before regarding our places of employment. Oh, that at least we as God’s people would be on guard against Satan’s schemes and learn to be thankful for every job we are able to do with God’s help! 

However, besides fulfilling earthly duties, there is also a heavenly calling. We find it in Isaiah 49:3: “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified,” or otherwise translated: “and you will bring me glory” (NLT). This was the task assigned to Isaiah, but even today, the Lord demands the same from you and me, dear friend. 

“You are” is just as certain and personal for you today as it was for the prophet back then. You are the instrument through which God still wants to glorify Himself today. You are the vessel into which God wants to place His rich treasure. You are a temple of God in which God’s glory desires to dwell, precisely in the place where you are today, whether within your family or in the midst of business life. 

In verse 4, Isaiah replies: “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” In these words, we can clearly perceive Isaiah’s humanness: “I have labored in vain.” Were all his efforts and struggles for nothing? Through human eyes, the prophet’s entire work seemed to be in vain. Yes, it seemed to him as if all the years, months, and days he had worked for his God had been lost, without benefit and gain – in vain. 

Is it the same for you, dear child of God, when you look back on the time since you have been in the Lord’s service? All the effort, all the sweat, all the tears, all the prayers, all the sacrifices – do they seem to you like seeds scattered to the wind? Perhaps no one knows what it has cost you: sleepless nights, watching, and praying. And suddenly it may seem to you as if you have labored in vain and spent your strength for nothing and to no avail. In such moments of inner discouragement, remember: It is not my concern, but God’s. The task was given to me by my heavenly Master; He takes on the responsibility. 

The cause is yours, Lord Jesus Christ. And because it is Your cause, it cannot fail! 

Servants of God, if you find yourselves in such a situation, never lose courage! Even if only one single soul is the fruit of many years of hard work, it is worth it to win that soul for Christ. Some seeds must first be soaked in water before they are planted into the earth. Similarly, the spiritual seed we sow often needs to be bathed in the water of tears. “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them” (Psalm 126:5-6). 

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