In 2 Kings 6: 1-5, we read about Elisha and the floating axe head. Elisha and his company of prophets have decided that they are going to build a place for all of them to live together. While they are cutting down a tree, one of the axe heads breaks and falls into the water. The man who was using it cries out “Oh my Lord, it was borrowed”– I can only imagine that he was sure that he would never see it again. Elisha cuts down a stick, throws the stick into the water and *bam* the axe head floats up to the surface of the water. Holy ghost magic!
We know that there is no possible way that throwing a stick into the water could have changed the density of either the water or the axe head. It makes no sense that the stick would have caused the iron to float. It defies the very laws of nature. That axe was sharp enough to cut down a tree- what could have a tiny stick done to change the properties of the iron itself?
The axe was that man’s tool to a new home, possibly a brighter future, maybe even a changed life. We have tools that we use everyday for the same purpose- our jobs, our education, our finances, our sweat equity. Maybe you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, watching your tools sink to the bottom of the river. When we throw the covering of the Holy Spirit over that situation, it changes the very core of it.
In Hebrews 13: 20-23 says:
May God, who puts all things together,
makes all things whole,
Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,
the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,
Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,
up and alive from the dead,
Now put you together, provide you
with everything you need to please him,
Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
Here’s what I got when I read that: The same God that orchestrated the death and resurrection of Jesus orchestrates my life. He’s going to take this mess and put it together with a nice bow. And he will equip me with everything that I need to make it happen. I don’t need to worry that my borrowed axe head is sinking- Once I give that over to the Holy Spirit, the very nature of my problem will be transformed.
~Shiney
