Esther (Greek) 2:19-23: in context

Mordecai, sitting at the king's gate, overhears two of the king's officials plotting to assassinate the king. He reports it through Esther, the plot is investigated and confirmed, and the conspirators are executed. The good deed is recorded in the royal chronicles, and then, it seems, forgotten. Mordecai receives no reward, no recognition, nothing; his loyal act is written down and set aside. Yet that record, unnoticed at the time, will prove crucial much later, at the very moment Mordecai's life depends on it.

Mordecai did a genuinely good thing, saving the king's life, and at the time it went entirely unrewarded. There was no honor, no thanks, no recognition; the deed was simply recorded in the chronicles and forgotten, as though it counted for nothing. Mordecai could easily have felt that his good deed had been wasted, ignored, that doing right had gotten him nothing. And yet the story is not over. Long afterward, on a sleepless night, the king happens to have the chronicles read to him, comes upon the record of Mordecai's forgotten deed, and asks what had been done to honor him; and this leads, in God's providence, to Mordecai's exaltation at the very moment his enemy was plotting his death. The good deed that seemed wasted was remembered at exactly the right time. There is real encouragement here for the good we do that seems to go unnoticed and unrewarded. We do right, help someone, act faithfully, and it goes unrecognized; no thanks comes, no reward, and we are tempted to feel that our goodness was wasted, that doing right got us nothing. Mordecai's story says otherwise. The good we do is not lost, even when it seems forgotten; it is recorded, remembered, and can be brought to account in God's time, often when we least expect it. God sees the good done in secret and unrewarded, and does not forget it. Your Father who sees in secret, Jesus says, will reward you. We are not to do good for the reward, but we may be encouraged that the good we do is never truly wasted, never finally forgotten, even when it goes unnoticed and unrewarded at the time. Let us not grow weary in doing good, Scripture says; for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Mordecai's forgotten deed was remembered at the perfect moment; and the good we do in obscurity is likewise seen and kept by God, to be brought to account in his time.

When the good I do goes unnoticed and unrewarded, and I am tempted to feel that my goodness was wasted and doing right got me nothing, can I take encouragement from Mordecai's forgotten deed remembered at the perfect moment, that the good we do is never truly lost but seen and kept by God, to be brought to account in his time?