Every minister of the gospel faces discouragement. The realities of vocational ministry can sometimes be harsh and trying. Those we are trying to evangelize might appear wholly uninterested, discipleship can be tiring, church members might prove difficult to shepherd, and conflict in the church might undermine the unity of God’s people. These are but a few potential sources of discouragement for ministers who, like the Apostle Paul, assume a “daily pressure” and “anxiety” for the churches and believers under their care (2 Cor 11:28).
One particular discouragement that pastors and missionaries face is the feeling that our labor might be in vain. The author of Ecclesiastes wrestled with this very struggle. This discouragement comes to the fore in Ecclesiastes 2, in which the author declares, “I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun” (Eccl 2:17–20). Here the author is facing the harsh reality that we do not control the outcome of our labor.
Yet Ecclesiastes—the very book that so powerfully exposes the protentional vanity of labor—also presents a perspective that strengthens us in the face of such discouragement. With a sudden change in outlook, the author continues, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil” (Eccl 2:24). This verse highlights a shift in perspective, one that moves from seeking satisfaction in the results of our toil to one that finds enjoyment in the toil itself.
This shift in perspective represents a major change in the mind of the author and is made possible only by God entering the equation. Up until then the author wrestles with the vanity of labor within a worldview devoid of the Lord. Yet verse 24 serves as the decisive shift in which one’s labor, rather than remaining a vain means to a vain end, becomes itself a source of enjoyment. Such enjoyment of one’s toil, according to the author, is a direct gift from God: “This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment” (Eccl 2:24–25)?
While not written directly to missionaries and pastors, this section of Ecclesiastes serves as a significant encouragement to those walking through hard seasons of vocational ministry. As the author subsequently highlights in chapter three, life is full of seasons:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. (Eccl 3:2–8)
Such seasons likewise characterize our lives in ministry. The up’s and down’s of ministering among broken people are real and challenging.
Considering this reality, we do well to look to Ecclesiastes here, where the author furnishes us with a powerful perspective in the face of hard toil and uncertain ministry outcomes. Rather than seeking joy and satisfaction in the results of our ministry, we should constantly find joy and satisfaction in the work of ministry itself.
Yet this perspective is a gift given by God (Eccl 3:13). It is only possible when we abide in him and feast on his fullness, for only then can we find enjoyment in our toil and satisfaction in our labor.
Moreover, it is this perspective that can sustain us through the discouraging seasons of drought and hopeful seasons of abundance. For, as the author points out, “whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him” (Eccl 3:14). Let us therefore find joy in our toil, knowing that God will—in some way, and in due time—use our meagre efforts to exalt his great name.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
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