Too much effort

It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. Romans 9:16 (NIV)

note the lack of bars

My cell phone has never gotten good reception and then it started losing its charge, so I blamed these problems on its age. The cellular people suggested I get a new phone. The reception is only slightly better and the battery still seems to go dead by the end of the week.

Here is the real problem. Even though I live only three miles from town, I get horrible cell phone reception at my house because it is surrounded by pine trees. Since I leave the phone on all of the time, the battery is wearing down, not because I am using the phone but because the phone is constantly trying to get a signal. The effort the phone is putting in trying to connect with the closest tower is tiring it out. Without knowing better, it is using up all of its energy on a sometimes futile task.

Aren’t we like that sometimes? We work so hard on something that only wears us out without ever accomplishing our goal. Or by the time we reach our goal, we are useless and our battery is run dry.

When that happens, when we feel we are spinning our wheels, it is time to turn things over to God. Pray to Him. His tower is always nearby.

Lord, sometimes the things I am trying to accomplish seem like an awful lot of effort. Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? If it is Lord, please strengthen me, strengthen my signal, so that I can do what is right in Your eyes. Amen