When Good Works Seem to End in Failure

Acts 4:1-4 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. ESV

I noticed something intruiging about these verses. Peter and John are sharing the gospel in the Temple area and the big shots of Judaism come upon them. We know how the story ends - the next day Peter and John have an awesome opportunity to share with the Jewish leaders and witness to them about Jesus Christ.

But I want to focus on what happens before that. Notice in verse three they were arrested and put in custody until the next day. So you are John and Peter. You have just stepped out in ministry, takena big chance and laid out your witness for the Lord. Along come authority figures who take you up and throw you in jail - and there you sit. You have no idea what is going to happen to you, nor do you have any idea what effect your ministry had.

Without Peter and John knowing it, notice what it says in verse 4: "But many of those who had heard the word believed." So while these two men were rotting in jail and worried (perhaps) about what awaited them - the people they had spoken to were getting saved!

The reason I bring this up is that sometimes we hear God speak to our hearts to step out in ministry. We obey that prompting and it seems like it falls flat. We share the gospel and only seem to get rejection, or whatever ministry we have launched on seems to crash on the rocks!

So we go off not knowing if anything we've done has done anything good at all. My word of encouragement is to realize that "My word will not return to me void." All you do for God and in His Spirit will do exactly what He wants it to do - regardless of whether you ever see the outcome.

Don't base your measure of success in ministry by the results, only by your obedience and whether what you did brought glory to God.