Last week God shocked me with two verses spoken to one of his prophets: “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you” (Jer. 7:27). Basically God gives Jeremiah a powerful assignment, and then slips in a little P.S.: But no one will pay attention, and your life’s mission will seem an utter failure.
The passage is silent about Jeremiah’s reaction, so I’ve been trying to imagine his inner life. Visualize being asked by God to attend university while knowing you will learn nothing (wait a minute … that is quite realistic today), or he asks you to spend a life trying to invent a cold fusion reactor while warning you that in the end your nuclear vocation will fizzle.
Jeremiah’s job was to bring God’s words to his people, and he is told his career will nose-dive. And then he will die.
The Promise of Results
In John 15, Jesus repeatedly says that if we abide in him (and he in us) we will bear fruit, actually much fruit. And in Matthew 13, Jesus promises “thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold” grain to those who hear and embrace his word.
Let’s assume Jeremiah heard and embraced God’s words; yet instead of the “fruit” of changing peoples’ hearts, he outwardly suffers beatings, imprisonment, threat of death, and exile. He also suffers inwardly when he witnesses people reject true worship, and he weeps when he sees them undergo unimaginable misery in Nebuchadnezzar’s ruthless conquest.
Jeremiah saw none of the promised fruit. How much should we expect to see it in our lives?
The Dangers of Results
During the crisis in Job’s life, he kept crying out to God, “Why all this suffering?” And God never answered him. In a certain sense, God couldn’t answer him, at least not without souring the fruit. God was purifying Job till Job’s joy was found simply in knowing God; so that Job could say, “Though he slay me, yet I will praise him.”
If you discovered a Boy Scout was paid $25.00 for walking a little old lady across the street, you’d argue his merit badge should be revoked. Likewise, if God had told Job that the fruit of his life would be the inspiration of millions of readers for thousands of years, Job would have endured the difficulties not for God’s glory but for his own.
There is probably no greater spiritual danger than success. In it, we almost wonder how God managed things before we were born. It is why in John 15 God prunes fruitful branches; pruning branches forces them to cling to the vine not the result.
The Christian’s constant peril is to draw counterfeit-life from the fruit.
Measure the Practice And Not The Result
Faith is rooted in the knowledge of the person of God; it can never be found in the visible feats of our lives. And in those (rare?) instances when we do see impact, God warns us, “lest you say in your heart, my power and my strength have gotten me this great success” (Deut. 8:17).
God tells Habakkuk that “the vision awaits its appointed time.” We may see its fulfillment, but it may be better if we don’t. Our only hope is to look to the source. Habakkuk responds:
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
At the time of his death, Oswald Chambers was little known outside his tiny Christian circle. Yet his life and writing have impacted millions. But before he was known, before a book with his name had been printed, he taught this lesson:
Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
Sam
The Fear of Risk
Sam,
Such a timely message for such a crazy year. Thank you for this blog post, it reminds me to trust the process and not try to rush what God is doing.
I read the following from Oswald Chambers today and it aligns well with what you wrote…
“Be endlessly patient. There is nothing more impertinent than our crass infidelity in God. If He does not make us plowers and sowers and reapers all at once, we lose faith in Him. Modern evangelism makes the mistake of thinking that a worker must plow his field, sow the seed, and reap the harvest in a half hour.”
Thanks for always pointing your readers back to the Truth and into the lap of a loving Father.
All the best,
Bill
Bill,
That quote is perfect! I love the closing critique of the “business” of modern Christianity:
“Modern evangelism makes the mistake of thinking that a worker must plow his field, sow the seed, and reap the harvest in a half hour.”
Thanks
Sam
Good word here Sam! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Jon,
Thanks!
Thanks Sam, I often feel as if I’m not making an impact or sharing the gospel enough even though those closest to me tell me I am. Trying to live more in just being, being who God made me to be, and being in close fellowship with Him.
Hi David,
I think (sometimes) that it is God’s mercy that we not see all our fruit. It keeps our eyes on Him.
He always gives us exactly what we need most.
Sam
Thank you so much Sam. This was like a tall glass of water for me in the desert!
Thanks! (It was a glass of tall water for me as I thought about it all 🙂 ).
Sam
A good word.
Very timely for me, Sam. Thank you.
Sam, it’s a good word. Thanks for writing it down.
Sometimes I have occasion to bring something that I just know won’t bring about what I want for the person, but that the person needs to be real clear about what they’re doing. Of course I want them to turn to God and be saved, but there’s this feeling in the back of my mind that seems like God’s voice, that He wants to make things clear to the people there. Just like what Jeremiah would run into. I have another, alternate, hope which is that long after I’m gone that the word will spring up to life–as in the Oswald Chambers case.
Hi Bruce,
Absolutely. It is why God tells us that some plant, some water, and some harvest. It partly means we won’t see all the fruits of our service (and that is just fine) and also that our fruit also requires the service of others (so our heads don’t grow too big).
Sam
Hi Sam,
I looked up your quote from Chambers. It is from March 19th, in his “My Utmost for His highest”. It goes along with a quote fro Hebrews 11:8 in which the author of Hebrews commends Abraham for his faith, “He went out not knowing wither he went.” (KJV)
I am struggling to write a book about the current battle between fear and faith, as represented by the News Media report of the COVID Virus and the controversy between medical doctors.The illegal halting of Church Services in may areas has made the practice of our “:Faith” particularly difficult for some. Even The WHO (World Health Organization) can’t deice to whom it should listen. They reported three weeks ago on a Friday that “The WHO recommends that masks ONLY BE WORN by people who are symptomatic”. By Monday they had reversed themselves, apparently realizing that too much had been invested by too many in the “Mask Industry” that to suddenly pull the plug on this business would be “disastrous”… to whom exactly, one wonders?
And as Jesus said to the disciples on the Lake of Galilee,”Where is your faith?” Churches have been shut down in many areas, against the guarantees of the Bill of Rights. Yet, some folks in California actually staged a protest march, which was really a public praise and worship service on the streets. Smart move by the churches! Protesting is O.K., but church is not – so… how do we exercise our faith?
With these things in mind, I am struggling to put together the “basis of faith” for my readers. Your post today is certainly helpful.
I love your quote from Chambers, above, “Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person”, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.”
We err when we think that faith “in a concept” will free us from persecution. Instead it is only Faith in the “Person of God, himself” (not the image of a god) which will free us from our fears.
Thanks Sam – Good word!
Thanks Jack. You certainly are thinking about lots of things!