Have you been discouraged with how little seems to be coming out of your hard work? Maybe you feel not only that you’re not leaving a mark, but that you’re actually making things worse. It just seems like nothing you ever do is right. Someone else would be much better at what you’re trying to do, so why bother?

The prophet Isaiah felt this way, too. Isaiah was around about 700 years before Jesus was born. He began his ministry during the reign of King Uzziah (aka Azariah), and continued on through the reign of King Jothan, King Ahaz, and King Hezekiah in the Kingdom of Judah.

God put a charge on this man to spend his days speaking to a people who just would not listen to him. (How fun is that?) Yeah, he got to tell the future and hear from God. That part was pretty awesome. But let’s just say it wasn’t always the brightest future for most folks. A bunch of nations had completely turned against God and ignored him, preferring instead to worship things like pieces of wood (Isaiah 44:14-18).

Bad idea, guys. That wood is good at plopping on the ground, maybe burning up into ashes, unless it wets itself. But God’s gonna cut you…

Now, some of Isaiah’s prophecies were exciting. He told many specific prophesies about the Messiah, a spiritual and political leader who was going to rescue God’s people from their enemies, cause them to rise up above all other nations, and keep them safe forever and ever. (What they didn’t know was that this was Jesus, and the kingdom was not just Judah or Israel, but the Kingdom of Heaven — and it included anyone who decided to be loyal to the Messiah.) But at the time, nobody really listened to him. He’s that guy who knew horrible things were gonna happen, but nobody believed him. And they ridiculed him for it.

Isaiah ministered for quite a long time. Four kings came and went. Scholars estimate his ministry lasted 64 YEARS. So how the heck did he not end up quitting after a couple years of this? How did he keep from being discouraged? There’s HUGE destruction for some people, HUGE everlasting prosperity for others. Nobody cares. I probably would have given up after a couple of years of this, told my friends, “Hey guys, I’m praying about leaving this line of work, and maybe investing sustainable energy. Everyone’s burning down forests out there.”

What kept him from giving up? I think it took some convincing from God. (The real one, not the wood one.)

Check this out:

He said to me, ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.’

But I said, ‘I have labored to no purpose;
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.”    Isaiah 49:3-4

In the process of bringing his complaints to God, Isaiah realized he wasn’t to simply try to gain people’s approval, attention, or affirmation. Ultimately, he wasn’t even supposed to aim for people to listen to him. His whole life he was telling everybody what was gonna happen. But he realized his calling was far more than, “Oh my gosh, I need to make everybody listen to me, or I’m gonna get bitter and hateful and die.”

No, God told this prophet that a purpose like that was not big enough. In fact, God had bigger plans, not only for this one man, but for the whole ignorant nation of Israel. Even Isaiah — a guy who, by God’s power, could see the future — could not quite see exactly what was coming, and whether or not his work would pay off. Yet He trusted that, if he simply obeyed, the sovereign Lord was willing and able to pay him the wages due to him, on His own timing.

If you’re struggling to find meaning in your work, recognize that God may not be calling you to change the world.

No, he has something even bigger in store for you — in another world that’s gonna last. It will be worth your time to change (this one’s gonna be destroyed anyway). Jesus talks many times in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) about how, when you obey God by loving Him first and others second, you have a great reward in Heaven. And no one can take that away.

(Now this doesn’t mean that good deeds get you to Heaven; only Christ’s death is powerful enough to remove your sin from you and make you clean enough to be approved into a perfect nation. But what it does mean is that your reward in Heaven is greater that your reward on earth, and it’s safe. Safe from all the things that can take your earthly rewards away. No bosses in Heaven will give you a “Jelly of the Month” card instead of a Christmas bonus.)

God sees your work, and He sees your heart. If He is fair, don’t you think He will reward you for it? It just might be in a different way than you’re expecting. But I guarantee it’s a better reward than you could even imagine.

You may not be the best person for the job in your own eyes, but that doesn’t mean God has not called you to obey.

Depend on Him. Believe He can do great things, even with dirt. Whatever you do, don’t lose heart!

Here. Have a song.

Shadows of greatness, yeah, it’s the story of a small town
We wore the colors of our favorite little let down
The lies we told were never much, but who could keep track
Enough that we all left the fire and never looked back

The tyrant kings
We had everything

Still I’m feeling like a vagrant in my own town
I’m like an awkward conversation
All of this work and I ain’t seein’ any wages
I ain’t gonna stop until I do

More times than not the ones you love are who you let down
We’re chasing something big our parents never tracked down
The hardest part is looking back and making sense of
The humble tries and troubled times of where we came from

Still I’m feeling like a vagrant
Lost in a world where no one thinks that we can make it
Don’t you know time is like a fortune when we take it
Baby, let me spend my time with you

The tyrant kings
We had everything
Still we run to you