“As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water. ‘Oh, my lord,’ he cried out, ‘it was borrowed!’ 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. ‘Lift it out,’ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.” (2 Ki 6:5-7)
A sad thing is happening. The school of the prophets is too small! There are too many students for the building they use! Either some of the students had to be turned away, or a bigger building had to be constructed!
But rather than turn away some of the eager young men, the students themselves ask permission to build an addition onto their school. Elisha readily agrees, and even agrees to accompany them to the Jordan River to get the wood they would need.
I can just imagine the scene. It is a beautiful day. The Jordan runs peacefully beside the groves of trees. The boys enthusiastically tear into the project, and trees begin to fall like flies. Everything is going as planned, until that tell-tale noise: “PLOP!” It can only mean one thing: Something very heavy has just flown into the river! And it doesn’t take long for everyone to discover the source of the “PLOP”. There, at the bank of the Jordan, stands a very forlorn looking student with an ax handle in his hand: “Oh My Lord!” He cries. “It was BORROWED!”
The company of students gathers around him on the bank of the river. As they stare into the murky water, they don’t gave even the slightest bit of hope. The ax head is completely out of sight, and no doubt but by this time, it has quite probably filtered down into the mud and silt on the bottom of that dirty river. They shake their heads. It will be impossible to find. The whole thing is completely hopeless.
But Elisha doesn’t stand and stare out into the water! After asking where the ax head had fallen, he reaches down, picks up a stick, and heaves it into the river. And just as if that stick were some very strong magnet, the ax head is drawn out of the bottom of the river where it “floats” until the lad can pick it up!
Situation hopeless? Not at all. Why? Because God is bigger than “hopeless”!
Is there a sunken ax head in your life, friend? Some impossible situation completely without solution? Maybe it’s cancer. Or maybe it’s a heavy financial burden. Maybe it’s a lost relationship or the loss of a home. Whatever it is, don’t be like the group of students who stared out into the river, thinking about how hopeless it would be to retrieve the ax head. Be like Elisha. Turn the problem over to God, the master of the “impossible”! Then stand back and watch your “lost ax head” rise to the surface as God turns things around!
See next Saturday’s edition of The Nugget, for Elisha, Part 20.
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org
(To access the entire “Lessons From Elisha” mini-series, please click here.)