Lately I've been thinking what if God were to tell me straight up:
The work you put in your small group (and any other ministry you're a part of) is not going to be personally rewarding or satisfying. The whole time you're laboring, you won't get to see any positive fruit being produced. In fact, the whole time you're participating in this ministry you'll actually witness with great pain as the hearts of all your brothers in Christ grow colder towards God and eventually fall away. But I still want you to do it anyway. I want you to continue to be faithful and keep pursuing
What would I say in response to something like that? Would I still do it? Would I really be able to handle that much pain, frustration, disappointment and continue to be faithful?
But as I look in God's word, he seems to be demanding just that from Isaiah:
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. a]">[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."
11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."
-Isaiah 6:8-13
He basically tells Isaiah, "I want you to embark on a fruitless ministry where no one will listen to you (v.9). The words you say will actually make these people more calloused (v.10) . Also this isn't going to be no short term thing (v.11) but I want you to keep on doing it until I say stop. As you do this, you'll get the privilege of seeing your homeland go completely to waste (v. 11-12)
For what purpose? With what guarantee?
... so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." (v.13)
What the heck is that suppose to mean? How completely vague, unsatisfying, unrewarding whatsoever! All I'm to do is plant a seed and not even see what it becomes?! Are you serious?!
But Isaiah does it. And he does it faithfully, trusting God 100% of the ways, completely laying himself down before the Lord. He did it and wrote a whole book about it too.
The idea of planting seeds is so hard because it's all labor, no immediate reward, and all faith in a process that you have no control over nor can you see because it's underground. And even then, there's no guarantee that anything will grow of these seeds, so it could all be in vain. Paul uses the exact same analogy in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 to describe the ministry of leading others to Christ.
To be honest, the thought of going through that completely scares me and I would rather have no part in that. But obedience to God comes without conditions, something I'm still learning. And what God demands of us his just our faithfulness. As one young missionary in Central America wrote:
I go about on fishing boats through the day. At night I sleep on piles of hides on the deck. The people do not seem to be interested in the gospel message I bring. Sometimes the adversary tempts me to discouragement in the face of seeming lack of success... I take courage and press on anew as I remember that God does not hold me responsible for success but for faithfulness.
