“You are to say everything I order you… But I will make him hard-hearted… Pharaoh will not listen to you.” (Exodus 7:2-4) I wonder how many of us given a task such as this, would have shaken our head and asked God, “Why are you asking me to talk to someone whom you have already decided will refuse to listen? There must be a better use of my time.”

We tend to be result-oriented people, we want to reap the benefits, see the plan play out–now. We don’t like to be rejected or have to wait. Nonetheless, God still sends us, in the same way, today but it’s usually more subtle. 

He’ll put a person in your life that you feel He wants you to approach. You work up your courage, follow His lead, and get rejected. You walk away disheartened but satisfied that you followed through. Then, He sends you to the same person again and again. If you don’t get a positive reaction you may think it’s all for nothing and be tempted to tell God, “No, not this time, send someone else.” Imagine how you would feel if that person’s heart melted with the next mention of Christ, and you had rejected the invitation because you thought God was wasting your time; after all everyone around you could see this person was a lost cause….

But have you ever considered why you were sent in the first place? Perhaps it is for strengthening patience and endurance, a test to see how persistent you will be when things don’t look good and others tell you to walk away. Be careful not to let your own heart become hardened as you attempt to soften others. The results are not always ours to see but the Word must continue to fill the air so that at just the right time, the words you spoke so long ago, take on a life of their own and begin to pour forth. 

“So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest.”  (Galatians 6:9)