For Want of a Nail

by Stephen Harper

There is an old nursery rhyme that we may remember:

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For want of a rider, the message was lost.
For want of a message, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

This supposedly refers to King Richard III’s death at the Battle of Bosworth, where a message intended for the king on the battlefield never reached him because of the messenger’s horse. Thus, the series of events culminated in the potential loss of the battle and kingdom. Regardless of whether it is true, it illustrates the “domino effect” a failure can have on things, events, and people we may never realize or even know about. This seems like something we should consider in spiritual matters, too. It could read like this:

For want of Bible study, knowledge was lost.
For want of knowledge, a teacher was lost.
For want of a teacher, an opportunity was lost.
For want of an opportunity, the gospel’s spread was lost.
For want of the gospel, belief was lost.
For want of belief, repentance is lost.
For want of repentance, a soul was lost.

I know many stories of individuals who had one-time opportunities to teach complete strangers the gospel [someone has even compiled some of these stories in a book], and those opportunities were literally life-changing and soul-saving. In each one of those stories, the ending would have been vastly different had they not spoken the gospel when they had the opportunity. But they never would have had the opportunity if they had not known the message and the need to teach others. I thank God for those who spoke when they had the opportunity. I — like the apostle Paul, seek your prayers [even as I pray for myself] — “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19). Let us all make the greatest effort to tell the greatest story to those who have the greatest need in hearing it.