“Wisdom is better than strength.” Ecclesiastes 9:16 NIV
“Hard work can either produce fruitfulness or frustration.”
My thoughts today are about “working smarter.”
As a teenager, if I whined about something being hard to do, My Dad, probably like everyone else’s dad, would say to me, “Hard work never hurt anyone.” I have since learned that you don’t know much at all about work if you haven’t learned about hard work somewhere along your path. Good things don’t come easily; they usually require effort; many tasks require extra effort.
I guess that kind of comes with the territory ever since Adam and Eve spoiled it for everyone who followed. Their disregard of God’s clear and simple expectation of them resulted in a predictable consequence, “. . because of you, all your life you will struggle to scratch a living from (the ground) . . all your life, you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day.” Genesis 3:17-19 NLT.
Yes, life can be hard; work is hard. I have known people that make anything harder than it has to be. There are people who complicate the simple, procrastinate the inevitable, and oversimplify the complex. Those folk give loads of effort but see little or no success for all their labor. Hard work can either produce fruitfulness for those who work hard and stay on task, or will cause frustration for those whose effort didn’t lack but their effectiveness did.
Here’s God’s advice: “Consider how things are going for you! You have planted much but harvested little. You have food to eat, but not enough to fill you up. You have wine to drink, but not enough to satisfy your thirst. You have clothing to wear, but not enough to keep you warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes.” Haggai 1:6 NLT. That sounds a lot like today’s economy, doesn’t it? The prophet Haggai described people who were working hard, but never getting the full benefit of their labor – because they were working at the wrong things, in the wrong way, without the blessing of God on their work.
When you are working harder without getting ahead, my counsel would be the same advice that was given to me, “Learn to work smarter, not harder.” Some try to be clever enough to barely have to work at all. That is not what I propose; remember as I said earlier, “Hard work never hurt anyone.” When what you do enjoys some success, seek God’s wisdom and direction, and as a learner, counsel with others in humility to learn from their know-how and experience.
“Wisdom is better than strength!” Ecclesiastes 9:16 NIV. Working smarter suggests a couple of things to me: Put God first in all you do; ask God’s blessing on all your work. Give God the firstfruits of everything you produce, with gratefulness and generosity. Be sure you are doing what God called you to do, not misdirecting your time and talent on something God isn’t blessing. Take a moment to see what is working for you and what isn’t, and apply your efforts accordingly.
There are limits on how many extra hours you can work beyond what you are already working, or how much extra effort you have to give above what you are giving, but there are no limits on working smarter. Read Deuteronomy 28:1-14 NLT. Now that’s what I mean about working smarter – getting God involved!
My prayer for you today is that you learn what and where God will bless.