“Floating Axe Heads”


BIBLE READING: 2 Kings 6-8

                One day while traveling along the banks of the Jordan River, Elisha comes upon a man who is cutting wood with an axe.  In the process of cutting the wood, the axe head slips off the handle and flies into the Jordan river sinking to the bottom.  The reason why this was such a devasting blow to the lumberjack was that this axe was borrowed.  Iron wasn’t something that was easy to come by, so this meant possible financial devastation for the man as he would have to pay back what he had lost.  Elisha is aware of the consequences of this man losing the axe head, so he decides to help.  Elisha takes a stick and throws it into the river and lo and behold the axe head plopped up from the water, enabling the man to retrieve it.  Once again Elisha steps in to allow people to see the power of God and to help them sustain life during a very difficult time.  The prophet’s job was to relay God’s message to the people in their daily life and to act accordingly.  As one scholar put it, “God calls the prophets to restore God's good creation, in the midst of a fallen world, in ways that point to God’s power and glory.” In that sense, isn’t that what we as Christians are to be doing amid a lost and corrupt world?  Aren’t we supposed to reveal God’s message of love and mercy to them and then act accordingly for them to see God at work?  We may not be able to make a piece of iron float on water, but we can do several things that would be considered good deeds that would point people in the direction of Jesus.   Just try it…you may just show people a little bit of Jesus in you.


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