Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

We have all heard of Napoleon and the fateful loss of the Battle of Waterloo. But did you know that the battle most likely could have been won that day if the French had only had a handful of headless nails?

Napoleon was greatly outnumbered. Yet he had managed to out maneuver the opposing forces. He had strategically placed his men in between the two major battalions of the enemy so that they could not join forces and move upon him.

When the battle commenced, there was a massive struggle between the forces. At one point Napoleon's forces managed to capture almost all of the enemies' 180 cannons. In many cases in battle when you were still unsure of the outcome of the battle and you captured cannons, you would disable the cannon by driving a headless nail into the firing hole of the cannon so that it would be rendered useless.

When Napoleons forces captured the cannons, the commanding officer gave the order to drive nails into the firing hole of the cannons but no one had thought to bring the nails. There were none to be found. Those cannons were then recaptured and the battle was lost.

Historians have stated that Napoleon most likely would have lost the battle of 1815 eventually. But with those nails in place, the same historians believe that there would have been no way that he would have lost the battle of Waterloo that day. The captured cannons were turned back on them that day and they lost. The rest, as they say, is history.

There are some important nails in the Christian life that need to never be forgotten as we go through the temptations and battles of life.

Scripture states that there is no temptation that can come our way that God doesn’t not provide a way of escape. (I Cor. 10:13) that seems easy to say at times. But the thing to remember is that Jesus allowed the nails that can defeat temptation to be driven into His hands and feet. When Jesus was teaching us to pray, the model prayer contains a line that says “lead us not into temptation.” This is the same message he gave to his disciples the night before he had the victory nails driven into his hands. In Matthew 26:41 He says “watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is week.

As we grow spiritually each day the first and most important thing to remember each day is that Jesus didn’t forget the nails.

Jesus laid down his life for victory over the devil and he covers us with that same victory and power to overcome each and every day. May we always allow the strength and power of Jesus nailed to that cross take us through each day.