The Pastor's Soul Volume 2: Pastoral Grit

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AT TIMES I HAVE FELT that my work in ministry was wasted. My prayers did not appear to be answered. My sermons did not seem to change lives. My counseling did not appear to help people. My evangelism won no converts. My leadership initiatives were ignored. My discipling of others seemed to bring no growth. Even in the areas of my strongest gifting, my efforts have occasionally looked utterly ineffective.

At such times I identify with the apparent contradiction described in Isaiah 49:1-4. There God speaks of his high purpose for his people, comparing them to a sharpened sword and a polished arrow for divine use. "You are my servant, Israel," the Lord concludes, "in whom I will display my splendor."

But the servant of the Lord has quite a different feeling. "I have labored to no purpose;" he replies. "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." In apparent futility, the servant can only console himself with his ultimate reward from God.

Most who have ministered in churches for any length of time have known the servant's paradoxical state: a stirring sense of call and a frequent sense of futility. We do the most important work in the world with the greatest resources imaginable, yet we sometimes feel as though we are accomplishing nothing. What gives?

As I have mulled over this paradox for several decades, I have come to some conclusions that help me to persevere with peace of mind even when tangible results are few and far between.

1. I can influence but I cannot control. Spiritual work has limits. The nature of these limits is illustrated by the difference between the work of a farmer and that of a cabinetmaker.

With tools like saws and routers, a cabinetmaker ...

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