When Obedience Doesn'tPay ... or Does It?
When Obedience Feels Unrewarded: Trusting God’s Due Season
What happens when doing the right thing seems to bring resistance instead of reward? Dr. Perry Greene uses the image of a farmer working unseen soil to explain why faithful obedience can feel slow, costly, or even invisible. Readers will learn why hidden growth matters, how Scripture frames delayed reward, and why success may be immediate, but significance is eternal.
A farmer who plants in the spring does not see the harvest immediately. Day after day, he walks the rows, waters the soil, and pulls the weeds. For weeks, nothing may break the surface. To someone watching from the outside, the work may appear wasted. But beneath the soil, roots are forming before fruit appears. Dr. Perry Greene uses that picture to describe one of the hardest realities of faithful living: obedience often begins in hidden places long before visible results arrive.
His message centers on endurance. Freedom gives opportunity, he explains, but faith gives endurance. That endurance matters when doing what is right does not seem to pay off right away. Many people know the frustration of trying to obey God, live honestly, act righteously, and choose integrity, only to face resistance, silence, or loss instead of an immediate reward. Dr. Greene names that tension plainly: righteousness may cost something before it appears to produce anything.
He points to Proverbs 13:21, which contrasts the trouble that pursues sinners with the good that rewards the righteous. He then connects that principle to Galatians 6:9, where Paul urges believers not to grow weary in doing good because, in due season, they will reap if they do not give up. The key phrase is “due season.” Dr. Greene emphasizes that God’s timing is not always immediate, convenient, or visible. A harvest may be real even when it has not yet appeared above the surface.
That is why the biblical image of the righteous as a tree matters. In Psalm 1, the righteous are described as planted, rooted, steady, and fruitful in season. Dr. Greene draws attention to the timing built into that image. Fruit comes “in their season,” not necessarily in the moment a person expects. There are seasons when no fruit is visible, but that does not mean nothing is happening. It may mean roots are being formed.
This is a significant correction to the way modern culture often measures value. Visibility has become a scoreboard. Likes, followers, income, influence, attendance, and public recognition often become the evidence people look for when deciding whether something matters. Dr. Greene notes that churches may measure success by numbers and giving, while businesses measure the bottom line. In that environment, unseen faithfulness can feel unimportant because it does not always trend, scale, or produce quick applause.
But Dr. Greene argues that God measures differently. He sees the parent raising children in truth. He sees the worker choosing integrity over shortcuts. He sees the believer standing firm when obedience carries a cost. Those choices may not be celebrated publicly, but they matter before God. The unseen nature of faithfulness does not make it meaningless. It may make it deeper.
To reinforce the value of costly endurance, Dr. Greene cites Thomas Paine’s observation that what is obtained too cheaply is often valued too lightly, and that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. He also cites John Adams, who declared that patience and perseverance have a powerful effect before which difficulties and obstacles disappear. In both examples, Dr. Greene connects national and spiritual endurance: meaningful things are often formed through struggle, not ease.
The center of his message is clear: righteousness does not always make life easier; it makes life deeper. That distinction matters because people often assume obedience should immediately remove difficulty. Dr. Greene does not present righteousness as a shortcut around hardship. Instead, he presents it as a way of becoming rooted in something stronger than circumstances. The reward of obedience may begin internally before it becomes external.
That internal reward can look like peace instead of anxiety, conviction instead of confusion, and strength instead of compromise. These are not small rewards. They are signs that God is forming character beneath the surface. A person may not see the full harvest yet, but endurance, peace, and conviction are part of the root system that prepares them to bear fruit in due season.
Dr. Greene also warns that resistance is not always evidence of failure. He points to 2 Timothy 3:12, where Paul teaches that those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will face persecution. In that light, opposition may not mean a person is outside God’s will. It may mean that person is aligned with God in a world that resists godliness. Faithfulness can bring conflict because righteousness challenges compromise.
Jesus’ teaching sharpens the contrast between outward success and inward loss. Dr. Greene recalls Jesus’ question about what it profits a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul. From that perspective, outward achievement is not the final measure of a life. A person can appear successful and still lose what matters most. Another person can struggle outwardly while gaining something eternal.
That eternal frame changes how believers evaluate the present. Dr. Greene reminds listeners that Jesus taught His followers to lay up treasures in heaven. Human nature wants immediate results, but God builds eternal outcomes. The visible present is not the whole story. The faithful life is not lived only for today’s applause, today’s numbers, or today’s comfort. It is lived for a harvest that may not yet be fully seen.
For daily life, Dr. Greene offers a practical path. First, believers keep planting. They do not quit simply because fruit is not visible. Faithfulness requires continuing to water the soil, pull the weeds, and do the next right thing. Second, believers examine their expectations. God’s rewards may be deeper than what people first imagine. The blessing may not appear first as comfort, wealth, ease, or recognition. It may appear first as courage, steadiness, peace, and spiritual maturity. Third, believers trust the process. Roots grow before fruit shows.
That message speaks especially to parents, workers, church leaders, and believers who feel unseen. A parent may repeat truth for years before seeing it take root in a child. A worker may choose honesty when shortcuts would be easier and more profitable. A church may remain faithful to truth even when compromise might draw a larger crowd. A believer may keep praying, serving, forgiving, and obeying without immediate evidence that it is changing anything. Dr. Greene’s encouragement is that hidden faithfulness is not wasted.
The danger is quitting too soon. A farmer who walks away because nothing has broken the surface may not simply lose a crop. He may forfeit a harvest already in motion. In the same way, giving up on obedience because results are delayed may abandon work God is already doing beneath the surface. The waiting season is not proof that nothing is happening. It may be the very place where the roots are growing.
Dr. Greene closes with a strong reminder: success may be immediate, but significance is eternal. The due season is coming. Faithfulness may not always be visible, rewarded, or understood in the moment, but obedience is not pointless. It is powerful because it belongs to a harvest that God sees before people do.
TL;DR
Dr. Greene compares faithful obedience to farming: roots often form before fruit appears.
Doing the right thing may bring resistance, silence, or cost before visible reward.
Galatians 6:9 frames obedience around “due season,” not immediate results.
Psalm 1 shows the righteous as planted, rooted, steady, and fruitful in season.
Modern culture often measures success by visibility, numbers, income, and influence.
God sees hidden faithfulness that may never trend publicly.
The reward of righteousness may begin internally through peace, conviction, and strength.
Resistance is not always failure; it can be evidence of alignment with God.
Believers are called to keep planting, examine expectations, and trust the process.
Success may be immediate, but significance is eternal.
Discussion + Reflection Section
Discussion Questions
Where have you seen faithful obedience feel costly before it felt rewarding?
Why is it difficult to trust God’s “due season” when no visible fruit has appeared?
How does Psalm 1’s image of being rooted and planted challenge modern ideas of success?
What unseen acts of faithfulness might God value even when people overlook them?
How can believers tell the difference between quitting wisely and giving up too soon?
Apply It This Week
Identify one area where you are tempted to stop doing good because results are slow.
Choose one faithful action to keep practicing this week, even if no one notices.
Reframe one delayed outcome as a possible root-growing season rather than wasted effort.
Encourage someone who is serving faithfully but feels unseen.
Pray through Galatians 6:9 and ask God for endurance in His due season.
Prayer Prompt
Lord, help us not grow weary in doing good. Teach us to trust Your due season, to keep planting when the fruit is hidden, and to believe that obedience matters even when results are not yet visible. Give us peace, conviction, and strength as You grow roots before the harvest appears. Amen.