Commit Thy Way

The Sapphire Review Vol. 2 | No. 36 • July 25, 2025

Commit thy way unto the LORD; Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Psalm 37:5, KJV

THE BOARD, THE NAIL, AND THE ROAD

Recently, I was on my way back home from working out of town. I was driving down an interstate highway when something caught my eye on the shoulder.

There was a wooden board, about a foot long, with a nail sticking up a couple of inches out of it. Traffic was a bit heavy at this time and, being on an interstate, all of the cars were moving along at high speeds. My noticing of this object and these details happened within a split second as I drove by it.

It was beginning to get late, and the sun was close to setting. I had worked all day, I was tired, and I still had over an hour of driving ahead of me. I was ready to be home, but as I distanced myself from the object, I couldn’t shake the conviction that I was to go back and remove the board before it became the cause of a major accident or problem for somebody.

I was outside of the city by this point, so exits off the interstate were infrequent. As I approached the next exit, I submitted to the conviction and consented that I would at least make an effort to go back and see if somehow I could get the board out of the way.

As I turned onto the road off the exit and headed back in the other direction, I wasn’t even sure if this road would bring me back to a place where I would be on the other side of the board, if it even brought me back to the interstate at all. I wasn’t even sure where exactly the board was. Then there was the problem of the traffic… How was I supposed to locate this board again and get over in a safe manner to a place where I could retrieve it without causing an accident or problems with traffic myself? There was a steady, unbroken stream of cars on the road and visibility was dropping by the minute. I had no idea how I was supposed to deal with all of these variables, yet I knew I had to obey what the Lord was impressing upon my heart.

As it turned out, the road I was on did take me back to an entrance further down on the interstate. In less than ten minutes after I exited, I was getting ready to enter onto the highway once more. Now for the problem of the board and its exact location... I planned to very slowly enter onto the highway so that I could keep an eye out for the board and then quickly get over to remove it once I located it.

As I was moving toward the entry ramp, I observed the density of the traffic and that there was no break in the flow. If I eased onto the highway in traffic like this, it could cause significant problems. I had no choice but to accelerate and to try and merge in with the traffic.

As soon as I was on the highway, I saw it again! The board was just a few yards down from entrance ramp. This time I saw it more clearly. It was barely on the shoulder. A car could easily run over it, especially when night came. Unfortunately, I was unable to get over in time because of traffic. Its location was problematic to try and reach, as it would almost require me to park on the entrance ramp because of all the traffic. Parking on the entrance ramp could then cause its own set of problems.

THE WAY

All of these variables…

As I distanced myself from the board again, I considered that maybe it was good enough that I had at least attempted to retrieve it even though I had been unsuccessful. It wasn’t… So back again I went down the same exit and path that I had taken the first time. If I didn’t get it this time, it would then be dark enough to need headlights before I could try again.

I repeated the same steps as before. As I was praying and preparing to drive onto the entrance ramp again, I was concerned and contemplating about how I was supposed to get off the road by the board in all of the traffic. Then, as I drove down the entrance ramp, I noticed that there was no traffic at all! I was able to ease over and park just beside the board, without any cars being around me. I looked behind me, and in the distance there was another stream of cars coming. Jehovah had given me just what I needed to complete the task. I quickly jumped out and grabbed the board before traffic was able to become a problem.

OBJECT LESSON

As I drove away from the scene, with the dangerous board now safely out of the way from causing any harm, I considered how a simple object lesson could be derived from these events.

Often times, in our humanity, we can try to put too much emphasis on our own abilities, our own thoughts, and our own analysis of variables when determining which and the best course to pursue.

We may have our minds set to move in a particular direction until God introduces a path that we were not expecting. We might reason through the variables and determine that such a course of action need not be pursued as it would be unlikely to be a success. Yet, it is only when we move forward in faithful obedience with the very next step that lies in front of us that Jehovah then makes a way for the following step. At times, things may continue in this way, one step at a time, until we have completed that which we initially thought (by our own reasonings) to be impossible to do.

As long as we continue down a path that He has placed before us, we can be certain that a way will be made as we do our parts and wait for His timing. Outside of His path or His timing, we won’t find His guiding and protective hand, but inside we find safety and steps that are made firm.

God Bless,

Charles