Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 49:4

"But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity; yet surely the justice [due] to me is with Jehovah, and my recompense with my God." — Isaiah 49:4 (ASV)

Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

The Jews, as a nation, were not gathered to Christ; the highly favored people, as a whole, did not believe in him. He was expressly sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet John was obliged to write, He came unto his own, and his own received him not. So few became his personal followers that it really appeared as if his life-work had been a failure; but he did what all God’s true servants must do: he referred his work to the Lord.

He said, Surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work (or, my record) with my God. If we are faithful, that is all that our gracious Master requires of us; we are none of us bound to be successful. If we bear our sincere testimony to the truth, and everybody rejects it, our reward will be no less in the day when the Lord calls us to give an account of our stewardship. If you, my brother or my sister, are loyal to him whose servant you are, when your Lord comes again, he will say to you, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: ... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

The Messiah, prophetically looking forward, complained that, during his life on earth, he seemed to labour in vain. The nation was not saved: he came unto his own, and his own received him not.

He wept over the guilty city of Jerusalem; but those tears did not put out the fires of vengeance. He entreated men to turn to God, but they did not and they would not repent. He seemed to labour in vain, and spend his strength for nothing, and in vain.

Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

Our Saviour did, in his earthly ministry, to a large extent labour in vain. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet how few of them recognized him as the good Shepherd. He told his disciples that, after he returned to his Father, those who believed in him should do even greater things than he had done. That promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost; and since then it has been fulfilled over and over again in the history of the Christian Church.