The Closest Available Nail

By Pam Vernon

“…I will bring him near and he will come close to Me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to Me?”            (Jeremiah 30:21)

            On page 28 of Jesus Lives, Shirley Mitchell offered us a challenge …Have you decided to be “the closest nail” available for God’s purposes? 

            Years ago the Lord challenged me in the same way.  But what did that mean?  I asked the Lord for a Scriptural description of the Master Carpenter’s question and felt like the answer came in the above verse.  The Hebrew words for “bring near” and “come close” are different, but both are used not only for physical intimacy but also for sexual intimacy.  The word for “devote” is used when a co-signer has agreed to be liable for another person’s debt or when someone has agreed to be a guarantor for someone else’s life.  The Lord is certainly asking, “Who on earth will choose to have the closest possible relationship with Me?”   He uses three different Hebrew words for intimacy to make His point. 

            The Lord is definitely looking.  We’re reminded in 2 Chronicles 16:9 of His constant search….For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him…  I was surprised to find that the Hebrew word translated “fully committed” in that verse was the very familiar word “shalom”.  God desires to strengthen those whose hearts are at peace with Him, at peace with what He does, at peace with what He allows, at peace with what He asks.  So the question of being available to the Master Carpenter involves a willingness to be intimate enough to discern His voice and then a willingness to accept what His voice says. 

            Sometimes being available for His use is as simple as living out the very obvious in the Word of God.  A co-worker or a family member is cruel or rude and we just clothe ourselves with Ephesians 4:32 (NKJV)…”and be kind to one another, tenderhearted…”  Sometimes it involves an area that there isn’t an exact Scripture that we can pinpoint to obey, but our intimacy with Him has taken us repeatedly to verses like Isaiah 30:21, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears WILL hear a voice behind you saying, ’This IS the way; walk in it.’ (emphasis mine).  Or Psalm 16:11 (NKJV), “You WILL show me the path of life….” (emphasis mine).  Or Psalm 32:8 (NKJV), “I WILL instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I WILL guide you with My eye!” (emphasis mine).  So our faith in the Author of our Guidebook enables us to trust that we will know His direction.  We WILL know where “the nail” is to be placed for that day or that situation!

             Sometimes we are so used to conforming to the pattern of the world that we can’t imagine that the Lord would ask us to do something “unusual” or worse “embarrassing”.  I’ve learned from years of trying to live “available” that doing what He asks, when He asks, makes me more likely to be used again.  I believe that the Lord is under no obligation to speak to those who don’t respond…He still may, but I don’t want to risk known disobedience even one time.  Do you?

            Once, the Lord asked me to take cookies to the office of a woman that I had met on an airplane.  She had asked me many questions about the Lord, but certainly had made no commitment by the time we’d landed.  He allowed me somehow to remember her name and I found her law office listed in the yellow pages!  I took a note (with the cookies) reminding her of who I was, but the Lord was very specific, “Don’t include any obvious way for her to contact you.”  From my perspective, this didn’t make any sense and to this day I don’t know how this affected her.  But I did wildly discover that someone in her office met another friend of mine and told her about the event.  It then gave my friend the opportunity to strike up a spiritual conversation with her.  Who knows what the Lord was and may still be up to, but if the hardest thing He’s asking me to do today is possibly “humiliate” myself for the Kingdom…on a scale of one to ten, that’s a ZERO!  Praise be to our JESUS who always did the unusual, even the UNBEARABLE so that He could remain the “closest available nail” to His Father…and ours!  Our joy and desire is simply imitation of His life…”Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”  Ephesians 5:1.  Sing this Scripture to the tune of “Happy Birthday”, ending with the reference and you’ll memorize it in minutes!!!