The Carpenter's Plane

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uring my time at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, I worked for the housing office performing various tasks. One of those tasks involved performing inspections of seminary housing.  On one particular day, I was confronted with the following statement: “My door won’t close properly!” It seemed that when the weather changed, the door to this man’s apartment swelled and became more difficult to close securely against the elements outside.  The door would shut; it just took more effort to push it closed and pull it open again.

When asked what the procedure should be to repair the door, I informed the gentleman to report the problem to the seminary’s maintenance department and they would make the necessary repairs to the door.  He was relieved.  As a new tenant, he didn’t know whom to contact about the door and was hoping against hope he wouldn’t have to live with a difficult door or do the repairs himself.  He was like me, when it comes to repairing something—all thumbs.

As I left his apartment for my next inspection appointment, I couldn’t help but thinking about that door and how much it resembles our walk with the Lord.  Sometimes the doors of our lives just don’t shut properly. They change their shape according to the elements around us and sometimes small gaps appear around the edges where the cold winds of the world outside work their way in.  In addition, the unwanted and unwelcome little bugs of life crawl through spaces and gaps that occur when our doors don’t close properly.  Left unattended, we soon find ourselves, cold, uncomfortable, and infested from the little critters life sends our way.

But there is a means of repair and God takes it upon himself to effect those repairs so that our lives are airtight against all the elements that keep us from being all we are meant to be in Christ Jesus.  James 1:2-4 describes a process by which the doors of our lives are realigned by the Master Carpenter, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

At first, James describes a process which doesn’t seem all that appealing.  Words like trials, testing, and perseverance (patience) don’t give much encouragement.  But we must look behind the words and understand the process in order to apply this great truth to our lives.

The picture I have here is of a door in a carpenter’s shop or on a workbench.  During one of the remodels of our home on Main Street, I witnessed a carpenter preparing to hang a door.  The door wasn’t quite the right size and needed to be adjusted so the fit would be perfect.  The carpenter took the door, placed it into a vice, took a plane, and began sanding the door’s edge.  With each pass of that plane, slivers of wood fell to the ground.  Some of these were almost unnoticeable while others were fairly large.  I continued to watch in rapt fascination as his hands glided back and forth across the surface of that door.  The wood continued to fall, and though the final adjustment was barely noticeable from my perspective, the door was repaired and made to fit.

When the carpenter completed his task, the door was perfect.  It hung perfectly on its hinges and there were no gaps in its seal and it did not sway when he opened or closed it.  I have always remembered that image and think about it from time to time, especially when I read this passage.  I can see and hear that plane as it passed across the wood, removing everything that kept the door from closing properly and fine tuning everything that needed to remain.

Today, I submit to you that we need to spend time on the workbench under the carpenter’s plane.  The trials in our lives reveal the gaps in our hearts’ doors where we are vulnerable to the elements outside.  The Master Carpenter longs to make the necessary repairs so our hearts’ doors close properly.  He knows how to use a plane and he knows just how much needs to be removed so that the doors of our hearts hang correctly, close securely, and fit perfectly. 

Wherever you are in your walk today, know this one truth:  the Master Carpenter loves you with a love you cannot understand or fathom.  He is not willing that the door of your life should have one defect in it so he sends trials to reveal the areas of weakness so that you will call on him to make the necessary repairs in your life.  Are you willing to submit to the carpenter’s plane today?  It is my hope and prayer that you are!  Have a great day!