Bent Nails
Soul Snack 127/11 ... Bent Nails
There are a small series of toolboxes idle in my garage, each has a separate purpose. One toolbox is dedicated to the random and small. It accommodates nuts, bolts, washers, small brackets and many nails of all descriptions. I had never thrown any of these items out just in case ... (although some would have now been stored for almost forty years).
Last week I confidently scoured this toolbox for two very small nails. Usually I would simply empty the contents on the floor to find what I was seeking, this time I didn't. Instead I rifled through a malevolent pile gaining various nail pricks from too many bent nails. I mused - why would I ever keep bent nails - they even consume necessary space and make searching more difficult?
As I continued this 'torturous' search I reflected just a bit further - there are bent nails in life too. Countless people have been hammered into shapes that were not as God made them, left in dark and cold places where they have been forgotten and ignored. Countless people have been discarded as refuse, thrown out as rubbish and lived the life of rejection - yet while man may have thrown them away God never has ... hmm!
Not long after this last thought I chanced upon the two small nails I had been seeking, they were too both bent but exactly what I needed for the small task of repair at hand. Now the bent nails were simple to straighten in a vice and they completed their job perfectly.
Yet this final thought interrupted the repair - I had accidentally got it correct in keeping the damaged and disused nails -- God will always see value where man can't because He doesn't throw away bent nails either.
I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Is 41:9b-10)
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