Sometimes I Fight the Wrong Battle

“Roger, we’ve got another pile.”

Every few days I found a new little pile of tiny shavings on one of the bathroom shelves in the 5^th wheel. Then I noticed the same thing near the TV cabinets and in a couple of other places.

Ugh. It must be some kind of carpenter ant, I thought. So I sprayed insect killer—again and again. Still, new little piles appeared.

Raid Isn't Always Enough

Two months into RV life, we were parked in Shawnee, Oklahoma for the Citizen Potawatami Family Festival, held every June (Roger is a registered tribe member). By this time, I’d googled enough to know our little piles were due to an insect infestation Raid wasn’t going to conquer.

With Roger’s blessing, I arranged for a local pest control company to spray the entire RV. What we got was $100 worth of peace of mind that the 5^th wheel wasn’t being slowly chewed to bits. The tech assured us we could call for a repeat application—free of charge—if anything else showed up.

Of course it’s best to nip such problems in the bud. No sense waiting till something falls apart. RVs aren’t built to last forever in any case; it’d be silly to ignore a minor problem that could end up a major repair bill.

It’s like that in life, too. Whether it’s personal or mechanical, who wouldn’t prefer a small, manageable problem over a monstrous, potentially costly problem? Taking care of whatever it is early saves time, money, and effort later.

But what if you’ve misidentified the problem?

After the Family Festival, we took off for Florida. And the piles came back.

Back on Google, this time I searched RV forums. Maybe someone could offer another idea.

That’s when I found out our problem wasn’t carpenter ants. And technically it wasn’t a problem at all. Turns out, it was insulation sifting through cracks in the joints and seams every time we traveled. Even though our rig was six years old, the previous owners didn’t use it regularly, so the sifting was still happening.

Finally, I could stop listening for bug jaws chomping at night and peace descended upon our little home once again.

“That’s good news,” you may be thinking. Sure, it was. But I’d wasted $100 attacking the wrong problem.

Sometimes we pour time, money, and energy into fixing what we think is wrong—only to discover we’ve been chasing the wrong culprit. In RV life, it cost me $100 and a bit of pride.

Attacking the wrong problem—or enemy—in life can be more costly. Scripture reminds us that as believers “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world” (Ephesians 6:12 NLT). Too often we mistakenly attack people, circumstances, or even ourselves when the real enemy is Satan.

Before waging all-out war, make sure the enemy has been accurately identified. It might just be insulation. But if it’s the devil’s lies and manipulation, you’re going to need more than Raid on your side.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:4 ESV).

Have you ever misidentified the problem? Wasted money and brain space worrying about it? Share how you resolved it.