AXE AND THE CUTTING EDGE

1. The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”
And he said, “Go.”
3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”

“I will,” Elisha replied.

4 And he went with them. They went to Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”
6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
2 Kings 6: 1-7

We want to build the Kingdom of God, after all, that is our Great Commission assigned to us. To build the Kingdom of God we need to humble ourselves, approach the gentiles with love and respect. We need to treat others in a way pleasing to them so they see the love of God through us and in us. It may sound easy to build the Kingdom of God. It is easy to preach the gospel in a crusade but to deal with each person’s difficulties and to help them out in their need, we need Gods amazing grace.

We often tend to forget to bring God along when we go to help others. Elisha [in the above Scripture] did not seem to have any other plan made when the company of prophets asked him “won’t you please come with your servants”. Yet! They asked. Even though, we know God will come with us, it will be better to make sure He indeed is invited to come along with us to help others to receive His grace in abundance.

They went to Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”

It says, as one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. The axe wasn’t on the ground and neither was it on top of the tree. The axhead fell while it was being used. Do you think that the axhead would have loosened itself? It doesn’t happen overnight. Later down that verse, we read that the prophet said: “it was borrowed”. This means it was previously used, which in turn means it’s old and overuse of the axe must have caused it to lose its sharpening hence the prophet must have used all his energy into cutting the tree and caused the head to fall off into the water.

Just like how they must have forgotten to sharpen the axhead, we forget to pray, meditate on His word and worship to strengthen our Spirit. And when we are weak in Spirit, whatever we do only causes us to drain out. We feel tired, busy, sick, sleepy, etc. Again, it doesn’t happen overnight but if we repeatedly forget o spend time with God, we will not have enough strength to build His Kingdom. But, if we refresh our Spirit and be in constant communion with the Most High, we will never let our axhead fall off into the water. We won’t feel tired or drained out to build up the Kingdom of God.

“Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!” 6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

The last part says that the prophet cried out when the axhead fell and said: “It was borrowed!” If we borrow something, we must return it back as it doesn’t belong to us. What we are, who we are and what we possess – nothing belongs to us. We need to give God what belongs to Him and what He deserves. The Kingdom of God belongs to Him, all the people, saved or unsaved belong to Him. We are told to build His kingdom, save souls from the eternal hell, help others in need, give water to the thirsty and food to the hungry. If our axhead fails or when we feel tired and drained out don’t just say, “Ah! I am tired I have to sleep” instead cry out to the Lord and say: “Oh! No, my Lord, I am tired before completing the task you assigned to me” Regardless if it was a mistake of ours or not that our axhead fell, we must cry out to the Lord. Then God will come through, throw a stick into the problem which will cause the solution to ‘float’ just as he threw a stick and made the iron float.

All we have to do then is, lift it out! Once you have asked God to help you, you must believe that God will come through and when He does solve your problem, lift Him up! Lift up the name of the Lord and testify the mighty things He has done for you. Don’t go back to the Lord detailing how heavy your problems are and do not nag that your iron can’t float in water! With God everything is possible. So ask, believe and lift up the name of the Lord.