Errant trim nail—discovered, extracted, and discarded

After the plumber removed the trim nail that had pierced the pipe, I was fascinated by how thickly corroded it had become in two years and amazed at how well it had plugged the metal all that time. In fact, as I prayed with a group of women soon after, I kept seeing that corroded nail in my mind. I couldn’t shake it, so I shared the story with them and the analogy of contaminants penetrating the fresh, living water in the lives of believers. From that analogy, we prayed for freedom for Christians dealing with intrusive toxins.

In my mind, I figured we were praying for those who were facing addictions or various besetting sins—and I’m sure we were. Those things certainly seek to worm their way into the lives of men and women who endeavor to follow the Lord; Satan uses such devises to bind up, if possible, anyone who poses a threat to him or to the spread of his agenda. What I didn’t know when I shared my trim nail story, however, was that God was about ready to uncover one in my own life.

It didn’t happen right away. God takes His time with us; He not only prepares us for our calling, ministry, and service—He also prepares us to deal with uncomfortable or painful issues. And I believe that He has a due season for everything He does, and He works in us throughout our lives to help us to hear and receive what He has to say.

On a recent snowy day as I hunkered down at home, I began the day with prayer and time in the Word, but for some reason I was flooded with an onslaught of negative emotions. Thoughts of isolation, ineffectiveness, despair, and unacceptability bombarded my mind. I poured out the pain I was experiencing before the Lord. After all, the psalmist urged, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8; emphasis added).

And interestingly enough, God led, not one godly person, but two—right in a row—to call me that morning to share their love and encouragement. The trim nail was still hidden, but He was applying the pre-op salve of lovingkindness and acceptance in the Beloved (see Ephesians 1:6, KJV) through the words of these precious saints.

After the conversations, I determined to hear from God and spent most of the rest of the day reading several devotionals (many were listed here on February 10: http://www.firstofallpray.com/?p=4114). As I read, God spoke to me through them, confirming some key directives I had received from Him previously. By the time I was writing a summary in my prayer journal about everything He had said, the oppression shrouding me earlier was all but gone. As I arose from that task to a more mundane endeavor, however, a scrap of the old heaviness startled me as it leaped on my mind, demanding attention, flooding my thoughts with images of all the disapproval my life had generated.

And just then the Plumber, the Ancient of Days Himself, stepped in and spoke very clearly, “Disapproval”, and I saw a man’s hand pull a piece of trim from the wall of my heart pierced by a thickly corroded nail—disapproval itself. All the condemning images drained away, and I recognized what the Lord—my Plumber—had just done for me.

It all made sense to me. I had been plagued by the feeling of being disapproved much of my life—even as a believer who thoroughly trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ, His precious blood shed for me, the wonderful regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and the living power of the Word of God. For some reason, I was not able to fully shake the nagging doubts and oppressive accusations despite how loved by God I knew I was.

God was showing me that the disapproval my parents expressed toward me as a child, teen, and young woman—even though I knew they loved me—had invaded my system and lodged in my soul. When Jesus came to make His home in me, the living waters sprang up to eternal life and all was forgiven and I was cleansed—but that errant trim nail of disapproval remained. Through the years, with every disapproving look or word, that nail was driven in deeper. I felt it, for sure, but was never able to identify what was going on inside. In fact, the Lord showed me, I had developed a “disapproval response mechanism” in my soul that was triggered whenever I met with anything that felt disapproving toward me—whether it was real or imagined. And if I left it unaddressed, or worse—I nursed or coddled it—and didn’t forgive as quickly as possible, that intrusive trim nail would redevelop its corrosion and the living water within would become tainted again.

And out of nowhere came my Plumber, the Savior of my soul, who simply removed the offending nail. Of course, I have questions: Why now? Why wait this long? But the fact of the matter is this: He did it. He pulled out a grossly contaminating, painful spike from my soul, and I am grateful. The flow of the rivers of life and the washing of the water of the Word will be all the more refreshing, sweet, and powerful.

My purpose in sharing this highly personal incident is to encourage you to press on in God even if things seem impossibly dark, oppressive, or disturbing. When the leak occurred in my basement, I was angry and upset at the mess and inconvenience. However, without that leak, the corroding trim nail never would have been discovered, and my water would still be contaminated.

A surfaced boil reveals that an infection needs to be addressed. Without that boil, the infection can spread undetected. A leak in the plumbing reveals that something is not right with the pipes—perhaps even contaminating the water. And chronic issues of heaviness, oppression, or sin in your life can be viewed as a wake-up call to press in to God and His Word all the more. Instead of allowing the oppression to bind you in shame or despair, use the devil’s attacks as your personal launching pad into the presence of God. The Lord will come through for you—every time.

And concerning errant trim nails:

1. Protect your heart by obeying God.

2. Keep the living water of Jesus flowing within you.

3. Trust Him to bring to light anything that may be hindering you—and watch Him set you free.

Dorothy