“God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him.” 1 Corinthians 12:18
Did you ever think how amazing it is that when a person reaches twenty (or near that age) his or her body stops growing? The Creator has wisely arranged this, for if our spines, legs and arms kept growing, what a peculiar assortment of giant people there would be!
However, three parts of our body do not stop growing—hair, fingernails and toenails. Why is that? Actually it is a kind provision of our Creator. Consider that single hairs keep falling out and in time there would be none left if new hair didn’t push up through our scalp and grow a little bit every day, which it does at the rate of five or more inches every year. This means that every twenty years more than eight feet of new hair replaces what has fallen out.
But why should our fingernails and toenails keep growing? We can be thankful they do since nails sometimes get broken or damaged. If a new supply didn’t grow, the ends of the fingers and toes would soon be exposed to all the painful bumps and accidents now absorbed by the nails. They are really wonderful pieces of armor!
Also think how useful our fingernails are in picking up a coin dropped on the floor or a needle on a flat tabletop and many other small things. Without fingernails, how would you untie a knot in a thread or in a piece of string or in a fishing line? How would you relieve an itch if you had no fingernail to scratch with?
Some may think fingernails and toenails are bone, but that is not true. They, like our hair, are made of a material called keratin, which our body produces from the food we eat. How does it get to these specific parts of the body? Our brain is constantly giving instructions to every part, and it’s as though it were speaking to the stomach and saying, “Now as soon as that food is digested, send some keratin up for the hair, some to the ten fingernails and some to the ten toenails.” This isn’t just imagination; it’s actually the way our body responds to the brain’s commands! When these instructions are carried out and the new part forms behind the old one, it pushes it out a little, until finally it’s so noticeable that you may find it necessary to trim your hair or those nails on your hands and feet.
This is all part of the Creator’s wonderful arrangements for us, as our opening verse expresses. Each member of the body responds just as He has established. Let us not fail to thank Him daily for providing every little, important detail of our bodies. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God” (Ephesians 5:2020Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 5:20)).
ML-07/19/2009