And [the Lord] said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.” Isaiah 49:3-4
Have you ever committed tireless efforts in a relationship, job, class, or other important project and felt like you had nothing to show for it?
When output results don’t come close to matching input efforts, we feel like giving up. It hurts when we put our heart into something and there is little to no response or change.
God has confidence in the servant in Isaiah. The servant, with whatever task he’d set out to do for God, appears less confident.
It is not easy to see the larger impact of doing the right thing or striving for justice in an unjust world.
A teacher, counselor, or coach doesn’t always get to witness the growth of the seeds they planted.
We might never know the lasting effect a simple gesture of kindness or generosity or prayer spoken did for someone.
We might not witness the changes we expected. But God knows. God will make God’s presence and power known regardless of what we do or don’t do.
As followers of Christ, we can trust God to bless our individual and collective efforts to proclaim and share God’s love with others. Those efforts do make a difference.
Through them, the love of God is being made known, and God will be glorified.