Tuesday 15 December 2015

Hammer and Nail


I like Simon and Garfunkel.  It brings out a skippy, dancing side of me. I like the lyrics, well most of them - they fire my imagination. How about, "I'd rather be a hammer than a nail."?  Think about it!  If a hammer and nail had feelings I would definitely want the hammer's role.  A nail is but a small slip of metal, banged again and again until it is lost from sight into the wooden piece of furniture. A nail would view the hammer as a bully, a relentless enemy who drives it into submission, pounding it again and again until the hammer's will is done.  The hammer returns unscathed to its place and glories in a job well done.

I have come to praise God for the lessons of the hammer and the nail; times of apparent set back, illness, loss of friends, folk leaving the church and barren seasons in sharing the gospel. Each day can feel like repeated hammer blows that leave me frustrated, angry and tempted to give up.

But when I look to the carpenter, hope stirs my fragile emotions. The nail and the hammer are both held in God's sovereign hands.  Jesus knows what he is doing.  There is a greater purpose, a divine building, something bigger than I have ever dreamed of, being accomplished with this one nail.  As A W Tozer said, "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply." 

To any reader in pain or doubt, stand firm. God is working his purposes out and you, dear child of His, are safe in his wonderful hands.