Most will agree the hammer can be a very handy and useful tool. A nail, however, might have a differing opinion. To the nail, the hammer seems brutal and relentless as it pounds and drives each nail head into submission.

Do you ever feel like you are the nail and God is the hammer?

I sure do. God has used His hammer on me more times than I care to count and there have been plenty of bent nails in the process. When nails take on a mind of their own and fail to submit to the blows of the hammer they can bend in any direction. The same is true of our life in Christ.  Our will is the nail beneath God’s hammer.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

When we bend, God takes the hammer from His tool belt and makes us straight again. God never grows tired of straightening bent nails; He is in the restoration business.

God allows us to be crushed by the blows of the hammer.

We all suffer the driving force of God’s hammer in our life. With each blow the silent hurts, disappointment and pain seem to intensify. We cry out, “Stop! I can’t take it anymore.” Yet, the hammer is relentless.

In profound depths of anguish we either learn to submit and develop the character of God, or become bitter and crushed by self-pity.

God’s hammer draws out qualities of greatness in each of us.

God’s hammer is designed to reshape us, not ruin us. When we are being hammered, it is difficult to see God’s hand in our heartache, failures and despair. But as we submit to God’s will, we get a glimpse of His ability to make something useful and beautiful out of the bent nails in our life.

Consider the worlds of A.W. Tozer:

“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”