“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Is 55:10-11).

As we seek to effectively communicate the gospel to lost souls, sometimes we begin to think that the success of our evangelistic efforts all depends on us. If someone rejects the gospel, we feel that we have failed. “Surely, if we had approached them with more tact and seasoned our speech with more grace, the outcome would have been different. “

There is no doubt we should always strive to grow in our ability to communicate the gospel. We should seek to present God’s word in a way that is easy to understand, effective in touching hearts, and motivates commitment and change. Yet, at the end of the day, the success of the gospel has little to do with our abilities and everything to do with God’s purpose.

In God’s wisdom He has designed the call of the gospel to reach the good and honest heart, and no human interference can thwart that plan. The seed of God’s word has the power to differentiate between hearts, and it will accomplish that purpose no matter what. While many may reject the gospel call, this does not mean God’s word has failed. In His foreknowledge, God knows that many will refuse His invitation. Yet, He also knows that many will allow the seed of His word to take root in their hearts and bear fruit to His glory.

God has promised His word will not return to Him empty. We must trust in this promise when we go out to sow the seed. It must motivate us to greater zeal and boldness in proclaiming the gospel. No matter what the results appear to be, there is a sense in which evangelism is always successful. As long as we are accurately presenting the gospel, it will work exactly how God intended.