Futility

This is the second lesson in a series on battling depression. The first is found here. I hope this lesson encourages someone today.



Have you ever been required to do something that you knew was doomed before you began? Or something seemed like a good idea at the time but later it became obvious that it was going to fail? Or perhaps through circumstances beyond your control you found yourself on the sidelines watching the game of life instead of participating in it?

This feeling of futility can cause depression and is one that I have often observed. You have probably encountered it, too; perhaps even suffered from it yourself occasionally.

It can often be identified when a person throws up his hands in exasperation and says, “What’s the use?” This question signals that the person believes failure is imminent and concludes that further effort is a complete waste of time.

Futility often either strikes those who are having a hard time recovering from illness, the elderly who have been confined to hospitals and nursing homes, or preachers who pour their hearts into their ministries only to feel that no lives are being changed. There might be other circumstances that cause it to surface as well.

It is not uncommon for those whose health was once vigorous to reach the point of depression when they become so ill that their recovery, if indeed recovery comes at all, takes longer than anticipated. Perhaps the rapid advances in the field of medicine have tempted us to believe that almost anything can be cured instantaneously. This is not so, even though we are blessed to have excellent medical care available.

When I visit nursing homes I hear over and over again the following complaint, “Why has God left me here? He should just take me home. I cannot do anything anymore.”

I had an elderly aunt who lived in a nursing facility. She was once a vibrant, untiring worker for the Lord. Ruby was my grandma’s youngest sister and the sole survivor of her generation. She had no children of her own and her beloved husband of many years had died several years before. She would open her heart to me in frustration whenever I visited and I am sure she did likewise to any who walked through her door. Her mind was as sharp as ever but her body had failed her miserably.

One day I told her, “Aunt Ruby, God left you here because your job is not finished. If it were, He would take you home. I think I know one reason why you are still here with us on earth. You’ve seen a lot in your 95 years and you’ve ministered to many people. You know better than anyone the obstacles a minister and his wife encounter. Your new assignment is to be a retired soldier who prays for those who are on the front lines. Your job is to pray for us.”

She smiled at me and told me that I was right. She prayed for me and for all of her large group of nieces and nephews, all 4 generations of us, daily. Whenever I visited after that I would ask her if she was remembering to pray. The gentle reminder of our previous conversation would cheer her a little. A few times she told me of some opportunities that she encountered to witness for the Lord there in the nursing home. When she died some of my cousins said they couldn’t grieve because she wanted to go home. I didn’t grieve for her but I grieved terribly for myself. I lost an intercessory prayer warrior.

In my position as pastor’s wife I have met many families going to and returning from the mission fields. Those going are excited and challenged by their future. Those returning often show signs of depression caused by futility. The worst case I ever encountered was of a missionary family who had spent years in Norway without making a single convert. They did not question that God had called them to that field but they did question why He did not give them a harvest for their years of faithful sowing. After another unsuccessful attempt they returned home to seek further direction from the Lord.

Such despondency is not reserved just for those who minister in foreign countries. Many domestic pastors reach the same level of frustration when they prepare spiritual food each week only to see their congregations reject nutrition for worldly junk food.

Noah was just such a preacher. Like us, he was only a sinner saved by grace. He believed God and obeyed Him by building the ark to save mankind and the animal kingdom from extinction. According to II Peter 2:5, Noah was preaching as he was building. It is evident that none heeded as the only ones who entered the ark were Noah and his family. In Noah’s case, preaching to the masses was futile.

But obeying God was not futile. Noah and his family did not suffer the same fate that the rest of mankind did. They were spared certain destruction.

After Noah and his family disembarked from the ark he became a vineyard keeper. I do not pretend to understand all that happened in the next event that the Bible reveals, but whatever it was, it was sinful. I wonder if those years of futile preaching had anything to do with Noah’s drunkenness.

We rejoice in the story of Noah’s triumphant salvation from the flood but do we consider what his life was like after it? Perhaps all those years of preaching without having even one convert tore at this heart. Perhaps the faces of people he knew who perished in the flood haunted him at night in his dreams. His neighbors all died. Not only did they die a physical death but they died a spiritual one as well. That realization alone would be hard to bear.

Perhaps the loneliness of having no one beside family with whom to converse caused Noah to escape reality through alcohol. This is all speculation. Only God and Noah know what went on in Noah’s heart during those years when the earth’s population was sparse. I can only surmise that the memory of its former population lived on in his mind.

Unlike Adam and Eve who lived alone in the world with just their own family and knew no differently, Noah and his family could possibly have longed for the people they knew previously. Perhaps their own impotence to make others believe the message depressed them. The Bible doesn’t say if it did but what it does say in the gospels is that things are not so different today than they were in the days of Noah. I think it is reasonable to conclude that the feeling of futility existed then as well.

What is the remedy to futility?

First, read the book of Philippians. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the saints, including us, while imprisoned. Yet it is full of encouragement. Paul used the words “joy” and “rejoicing” often. He spoke of consolation, otherwise defined as comfort. He said to look to Christ if we want an example of how the Messiah handled being taken from a lofty position to a humiliating one. Paul told us that he himself learned to be content no matter in what condition he found himself. Evidently there is no excuse for not experiencing joy.

Second, realize that you still have a ministry. It may not be the one you had or wanted to have, but you still have one. Time and circumstances change what we do and the way we do it but it does not change the commission.

Third, think on the proper things (Philippians 4:8, 9). That might mean not watching depressing television shows or listening to depressing radio programs. It might mean rejoicing in small victories like being able to get dressed for the day or filling your mind with inspiring stories.

Fourth, remember who you are serving. Pastors and Christian workers often need to be reminded that it isn’t a matter of notching conversions on their Bible. It is a matter of doing exactly what Noah did by warning everyone to flee from the wrath to come. Let God take care of the results, if any. Remain faithful in spite of the results or lack thereof.

Fifth, if ministering in one field proves to be futile, try ministering elsewhere. Jesus told his disciples not to waste time on cities where the people did not welcome the good news. He said to shake the dust of that city off their clothes and go to another. Shouldn’t we do likewise?

Sixth, know that there is an answer to the question, “What’s the use?” The answer is that you are influencing someone whether you know it or not. Time is ticking by. Someday your children, grandchildren, friend, neighbor, or total stranger might be in the same predicament that you are in now. The way you handle yours will teach them negatively or positively. It is your choice. You are to be a testimony of God’s grace no matter what comes your way.

Seventh, do not quit. Nowhere in the Bible does God allow us to resign. What you are doing is not futile if God put you in that situation. Only He knows the day of our death and until that time He expects us to be doing His work. This means that we should not give up when it comes to striving for better health, or telling others about the salvation from sin that God offers.

Eighth, encourage others. Ask God to show you someone who needs your encouragement and then obey when He answers. Even people in nursing homes can encourage their visitors. I know. I’ve been encouraged many times by residents I’ve gone to encourage. It is all a matter of their attitude.

It was God’s message in Noah’s day and it is still God’s message today. We are just the messengers. Go spread that message. There is a plan and a purpose even if only God knows what it is.

Don’t quit!