“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14
I have found that one of the most frequent reminders to praise God for being fearfully and wonderfully made, is the fingernail. Albeit it is small and definitely not as important as other features and functions of the human body, it is nonetheless an amazing aspect of God’s creation.
This truth has been hammered (Ouch!) home to me this summer as I have been fumbling my way through adding a stairway and new rails to my second floor deck. A well equipped tool belt does not a carpenter make. And having already suffered too many bruises and slivers to enumerate I can readily acknowledge this is not my calling. But in spite of all that, I have repeatedly been praising God for one of the most versatile tools ever created; and it is not found in any tool belt. It is literally at the tip of everyone’s fingers. It is the fingernail.
It has caused me on more than one occasion to pause and think about the wonder of God’s creation. If as the Bible says “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” then fingernails must declare His loving attention to detail. (Psalm 19:1)
Here are six reasons why fingernails reinforce my belief in a Creator God.
- Fingernails provide protection – especially from misguided hammers. They protect the soft tissue of the fingertip from injury. Nails are made of tough protein called keratin. They have no nerve endings and are impervious to sharp or injurious objects. Functioning like a shield they protect the most exposed and vulnerable part of the finger, the top of its tip. Many accidents are thwarted or could have been much worse if it were not for fingernails. Praise God for that!
- Fingernails function as a precision tool. They extend the finger’s pressure grip with a precision, enabling you to pick up the tiniest of objects. The ability to extract a sliver from your finger can then become cause for praising God.
- Fingernails enhance the sensitivity of the fingertip. Although nails have no nerve endings they provide a counter pressure on the tip of the finger that increases its sensitivity to touch. They also enable the finger to function with greater sensitivity when delicate tasks and movement are required like holding nails and screws.
- Fingernails function as an abrasion tool. They enable us to scrape and clean when just the right product or tool is not readily available. You can praise God then for a solution when you spill ketchup on your shirt at the church picnic.
- Fingernails also enhance the aesthetics of the fingers and hand. When healthy nails are groomed and for women when painted, they add grace and beauty to the hand. Thank God for the fingernail inspection when you want to know if your child has washed his hands before dinner.
- Fingernails are percussion instruments. They can be used to provide musical entertainment. They enable the fingertips in drum rhythmically to a familiar tune or nervously tap out a solo to pass the time. With fingernails, you never have a legitimate reason to complain about being bored. You can praise God in all circumstances! (1Thesasalonians 5:18)
I welcome your observations, comments and additions to this conversation.
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Here it is 3:30 AM on a Sunday morning and I’m in the beginnings of my prayer/study time and I just ( for some odd reason) noticed my big toe’s nail and thought, ” God, why do we have nails ?” This makes me chuckle a little as I amuse myself in wondering if God is saying ” Of all the things you could ask of me, you ask this ?” So I took a slight detour and hit up Google and yours was the first hit so and since you have a spot to comment, I thought I might as well leave one. This blog you started a while back I see, no matter your answer to my puzzling question satisfied me though I think the Lord gave me the reasoning ability beforehand but it was still fun to search ! Someday I hope to enjoy all the good aspects of fingernails, I’ve been a serious nail biter all my life and since I’ve passed the half century mark a few years back, I’d better get busy breaking my awful habit before it’s too late ! It’s nearly Christmas so I will wish you a very merry Christmas and may the joy of and in our living Hope bring you peace.
Thanks for your comment on this “nails” blog post and Christmas blessing. May the wonder of God’s creative genius and redemptive intervention continually encourage and strengthen you to live a life that pleases him.
Nailed it! (Sorry, I had to.) So, why do you think that God gave humans toenails? I was just contemplating on this and I wasn’t sure… is it just for symmetry, for mystical (symbolic) meaning, or is there some utility as well? I couldn’t find anything on it… (not that I looked for long… I just don’t have time since it’s finals week.)
(Here’s to revisiting this interesting topic a year and a half later :p )
Wow! So interesting. It’s February 26, 2020, already, and oddly enough find myself researching the internet to see if putting the Star of David on fake, press on nails for women is actually okay. (I’m a graphic designer.) Which lead me to several interesting finds plus yours. I am Christian, and believe how important and amazingly creative, the entire hand and body is. Nothing God created is without reason. I am in awe to think, what more amazing things we will know after death. But, to share what I’ve just learned is interesting as well. Did you know that there is a specific order to cutting your nails, according to the Aish Rabbi? With your fingers stretched out in front of you, the left hand order is 3-1-4-2-5, and the right hand is 8-2-9-7-10. And there are some more Jewish rituals of when you can cut your nails and when not to. This lead me to the spiritual meaning of fingernails, of which findings indicate you can monitor your nails for health reasons. Hair, fingernails and toenails are the only part of our body that continually grows after the age of 20-ish. And thank God they do to help protect the rest of our bodies. Imagine this, I live with six household cats, I have longer fingernails and my husband bites his completely off. Who do think the cats find for more comfort with, me or him? Finding that I can curb my own stress levels, with the joy a cat inherits with my fingernails is amazing. Also, when my husband asks for a back scratch because he can’t reach it, the joy he finds in the touch of my fingernails. It surely gives a woman some thought of special grace, yes, but it is what God gives us naturally, granted to us to use, like a shield and tool. A cat can scratch itself, but it’s rarely for pleasantry. Which begs the thought of how many creatures of this earth survive with their claws, like birds. The hair and nails act as armour, yet functions as a tool to open a pull top soda can or wrapper of gum. So, yes, I thank God for these little pieces of protection. I sure do! Isn’t it amazing also, somehow if stubbing your toe in the dark that toenail protects your toe a little bit? It’s amusing to me how the arts and entertainment world mostly focus on alien graphics without hair, fingernails and toenails, yet have large eyes. Not much Science in that, more Fiction.
Thanks Laura for your comment. Very Insightful and Interesting!!!!
I find it very encouraging to see people pondering the great wonders of God’s creations. Are they not incredible? Fingernails are but one of many small yet important details constituting the human body, each having their given place and reason. Imagine having an itch, but no fingernails? What about a bug bite? Have you ever tried ‘rubbing’ an itch? I don’t find it nearly as relieving as a good scratch. I believe our ability to scratch an itch is a gift in itself worthy of thanks. So yes thank You God for all of Your creative and wonderful works including the parts of our body we call fingernails. I doubt living on Earth would be the same without them.
I wanted to add ‘can be used as a weapon/protection’ as well.
I came upon this page after being challenged to produce a Scripture verse about fingernails or else I shouldn’t believe in them, because this person can’t grasp that no where does Scripture mention ‘planets’ – in the ‘rocks orbiting the sun’ sense.
Just to be clear here, ‘planetes’ is Greek meaning ‘to wander’ and it describes the wandering atars and means exactly what it says.
Thanks for more reasons to be grateful, as I am in the 3rd month of healing from a broken wrist and being unable to use my dominant hand, fingers and nails! I appreciate any prayers for restoration and healing! Shalom.
Please forgive my delayed reply. Thank you for writing. Praying your restoration and healing is progressing.