A Haitian pastor once told about a man who wanted to sell his house for $2000. Since there was only one interested buyer, and he unable to pay the full price, the seller came up with an unusual offer. He would sell the house at half-price, but with one condition. That he the seller would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from above the front door. The buyer agreed to the condition. The house sold.

After a few years the former owner missed the old place and wished to buy it back. But the new owner refused to sell. Upon this refusal the former owner stormed off. But the very next day he came back with the original contract in one hand and dragging a dead skunk with the other! He hoisted the critters' carcass up and hung it on his nail. Before long the stench was too much to bear. The man and his family had no choice but to vacate the house to the former owner.

Like the man in the story we poor sinners like to hold back a nail or two; just a corner of our' lives here and there, kept out of the Lord's hands. And it's these little nails in our lives that become to us a fowlers snare. Your nail, your fowlers snare is all it takes for the devil to hang up his garbage and bring sinful stench into your life. For example the rich young man who came to Jesus; he thought he'd done everything. Jesus said, One thing you lack, go sell everything and give to the poor. Then come follow me. What a fine young lad they all said, Upstanding, moral, keeping all the laws and commands. Yet deep inside he had a nail of greed. When called to repent he turned from Jesus.

Something to think about - What's the nail in your life? Is it money? Is it your mouth? Is it pride or your temper? Is it guilt or is it shame? Sometimes the nails are as obvious as rail-road spikes. Other times they are hidden, unseen as in the case of the rich young man. Charles Spurgeon, preaching on Psalm 91 said, The fowler's snare is intimately connected with secrecy. I do not think that a Christian is so often betrayed into a sin that is known, as he is into a sin that is secret. Many a man has taken in an evil thing because it has been varnished and glossed over and not apparently an evil; and he has thought in his heart, there is not much harm in it. So he has let in the little thing and it has been like the breaking forth of water - the first drop has brought after it a torrent. Take care Christian of things that are secret.

In his letter to the Romans the Apostle Paul shared his own struggle with sin (chapter 7) Some have compared the struggle with getting rid of the garbage in your life. You clean up your act, turn over new leaf, change your lifestyle but before you know it the garbage is back; maybe the same old stuff, maybe something new. So the real question is not just the garbage, but the nail itself. There's the problem, it's the nail of sin. What to do about that? REPENT! In the shadow of the Almighty, under His cross receive His grace and be washed in the blood of the Lamb. And then when the time comes, run for shelter. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. There in green pastures, by still waters, in His resting place He will save you from the fowlers snare. And as a forgiven child of God open the entire house of your life to Jesus -- especially the nails. Every last one of them.

Pastor Kelly Mitteis