Does Ministry get Lonely and Hard?

If you have spent any amount of time in Christian Ministry, you know there are days you want to pull out your hair and scream because it seems like people either aren't getting it, or they don't want to change.  This weekend was a bit of a challenge for me in this regards.  I'm not going to go into details, but it is one of those issues that makes you think people have forgotten that the purpose of the church is more than just going to hear the preaching. 

Well, after having a rough day of discouragement yesterday, I woke up early this morning and sat down to study my Bible.  My reading came from Exodus 30 - 32.  As I began reading about Moses visiting with God on the mountaintop, I was excited about learning and sitting at the feet of God.  Then, after Moses is handed the ten commandments, God looks down at His people, sees their great wickedness and rejection of Himself.  There is no other way to look at it.  Israel rejected God as their deliverer -- Men made a golden calf and proclaimed "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Aaron, Moses' own brother who stood beside Moses in front of Pharaoh and performed all these miracles at the hand of God even built an alter before this calf for the people to worship at.  God's righteous anger was hot.  He wanted to destroy the people, and Moses stood in the gap and pleaded for God to spare his people.
When Moses came down the mountain, his own anger was kindled against the people, and he destroyed the calf, and commanded the Levites to destroy any who persisted in idolatry and immorality.

As I read this passage, another instance in Moses' life came to mind.  An instance where the people were complaining and Moses. frustrated and angry, disobeyed God and struck the rock with his rod instead of speaking to the rock.  Moses was tired, lonely, and frustrated by the stubbornness of the people.

As I meditated on this, my heart was rebuked.  If the prophets struggled with loneliness, people who refused to respond to God's message, and frustration, how can I expect ministry today to be any different?  I have been selfish -- almost as though I expected ministering to come easy and naturally.  While this doesn't change anything in our church body, reflecting on this passage has helped to bring me up out of my discouragement and refocus on the one I am serving.  God does not demand that we bring him results. 

"With what shall I come before the LORD,
   and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
   with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"
⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
   and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6)

Am I walking humbly today, or walking in pride?  I am not responsible for how others respond to God's Word, but I am responsible for my own response to God's Word.  What about you, what has your ministry been teaching you?