It is work _from_ the Lord. It is the work to which the Lord has appointed each of us. When God called Barnabus and Paul, He said, “Separate them for the work whereunto I have called them.” {59a} Now we are not called to the Apostleship, but I believe there is not an individual amongst us who is not called by God to a certain work in His service. The Church of God is said to be “compacted by that which every joint supplieth.” {59b} There is not, therefore, a joint in the whole body that is not to supply something. All who are in Christ Jesus are the children of God, and all are called to work in His service, the strong man in the fulness of his strength, or the suffering invalid laid low with broken health. This, then, being the character of the work of the Lord, let us turn to the encouragement which God has given, and the root from which it springs. THE ENCOURAGEMENT. There are some things in our Christian life which we think, some which we hope, and some which we know. We know some, for they are assured to us in God’s word, and we are fully persuaded that His word is true. Now here is one of the things we know, know as a matter of certainty without the possibility of doubt. We know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. It may often appear to us exceedingly feeble and defective: we may be ashamed and humbled at its multiplied shortcomings: we may look back upon it honeycombed, as it were, by mistakes: we may be conscious that we have left undone those things that we ought to have done, and we may be painfully aware that nothing has been done as it ought to have been done for God, but still we are assured that it will not be in vain. When Samuel was but a child, “the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground,” {60a} and we may be sure that He will not let one word spoken in His name fall to the ground now. If the Lord is with you, no one thing that you ever do for Him will be in vain. You may not see the fruit of it, or if you do it may be after years of waiting, but the Lord knows all about it. He sees exactly what you are doing, or saying, or giving, or praying, and the book of remembrance is written before Him. You yourself may be one of God’s hidden ones, and in the day when He makes up His jewels, {60b} you may meet then with others, hidden like yourself, to whom your labour, however feeble, has been blessed in His mercy. Cleave, then, to the work of the Lord without wavering. Let no discouragements dishearten you, hold steadily on your way, faint yet pursuing, being perfectly assured that what God has promised He is able also to perform, and that even your poor service will not be in vain in the Lord. THE ROOT FROM WHICH ALL SUCH WORK MUST SPRING.