Dependence on God: Why's It Work When It Does?

At church this morning, the pastor told a story about a biographer and a politician.  The biographer submitted his first draft of his biography to the politician, and the politician asked, “Is that the best you can do?”  Realizing he could do better, the biographer went back and worked on another draft.  Each time, the politician asked him if that was the best that he could do, and the biographer would keep writing drafts.  When the biographer submitted his ninth draft, the politician asked if it was the best that he could do, and the biographer answered in the affirmative, with frustration.  The politician then replied, “Okay, now I will read it!”

I felt bad for the biographer.  The politician hadn’t even read those previous drafts?  How infuriating!  But the pastor derived from this the lesson that God wants us to do our best.  Do our best at what?  The pastor said we should do our best at depending on God.

I’ve been depending on God as of late.  I was recently thinking about people I really disliked, and I asked God to help me not to hate them.  Immediately, I felt better.  My feelings of resentment and bitterness lessened.  Granted, I may have to pray that again, maybe several times a day, on some days.  But my prayer actually worked then.

Why didn’t it always work in the past, though?  Was I especially tired of my resentment last night, and thus I was willing to let go and let God rather than trying my best to force my grudge out of my system?  I don’t know.