The Nail Mystery

I feel sometimes that God works much like a nail taken from the ground.

Have you ever came out of the grocery store and walked to your car to find a rusty old nail on the ground behind someones tire? Have you ever picked it up out of courtesy? You get in your vehicle, pull away, and not realize that the tire you just saved possibly saved a lot of grief. Perhaps you saved some children from not missing swim lessons. Perhaps you saved a gift that was to be purchased but otherwise would have gotten placed on hold due to the tire repair. Perhaps you saved a blowout at 78mph. Perhaps you saved a life.

Yet you just drive on, throw that rusty nail away at home, and hug your children as you get home from a long day at work with some fresh groceries to cook dinner.

Or maybe ... it was your tire the nail was under.

As I sat with Him today in prayer, I told myself I would thank Him for His works (recount my blessings) in my life today. It began as a struggle; after all, today was not much out of the ordinary. Yet I began to recall how just an 'ordinary' day is such a blessing. I never did get that call that my father in law's surgery went south; because it didn't. I didn't have to discipline my kids today due to poor behavior; because they were fine. I didn't have to man up and apologize to a friend, my wife, or a coworker because of my loss of temper; because I didn't lose it. I didn't have to try and mentally deal with the burden of a particular anxiety; because it wasn't there. I didn't have to wonder what I would make for dinner; because my fridge is full of food. I didn't have to wonder where my next paycheck would come from; because I got paid today.

My point is that God's protection is all around me, even in the everyday. My God is not a God that I measure by my health, wealth, and prosperity (if He was, He sure hated the Apostle Paul). I'm just saying that perhaps there was an attack coming from one of those directions. Perhaps there was something the enemy was stirring up to throw at me. Perhaps there was a rusty nail that was found at my doorstep, and He picked it up.

I will never know, but I will thank Him anyway.

And I will thank Him even when I do have a blowout at 78mph ... because He's still there with me through it all. He's still God.

"I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds." (Psalm 9:1 ESV)

~Matthew