Long ago in the Middle East:
“A man was traveling on his donkey when he came upon a small fuzzy object lying in the road. He dismounted to look more closely and found a sparrow lying on its back with its scrawny legs thrust upward. At first he thought the bird was dead, but closer investigation proved it to be very much alive. The man asked the sparrow if he was all right. The sparrow replied, ‘Yes.’ The man said, ‘What are you doing lying on your back with your legs pointed towards the sky?’ The sparrow responded that he had heard a rumor that the sky was falling, and so he was holding his legs up in support. The man replied, ‘You surely don’t think that you’re going to hold it up with those two scrawny legs, do you?’ The sparrow, with a very solemn look, retorted, ‘One does the best he can.’” 2
We are much like that sparrow. No matter how hard we try – even if it is our best effort – it is not good enough. The best effort we can put forth is inadequate to provide what we really need. When the sky is falling, our reaction might be to lift our hands to stop it, but it will do us no good.
___________________________
2. God’s Masterpiece, by J. David Hoke, originally from R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 84.