Some of us raised in another day were constantly preached at that you get nothing in life without hard work.

Here we read that we can will it so, or run hard at something, and still fail, that it’s only by God’s mercy that we succeed.

So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Romans 9:16 (NASB)

Therefore, I’m at the mercy of the God of the universe.

It’s good to know he ended up extending mercy to people who were not even his (the Gentiles), and to a remnant of  his own people (the Israelites) who went their own way.

What we should pray for is to become a suitable vessel for his mercy, ready to receive a full portion.

[Romans 9:23, 24, 27]