Keep Your Axe Sharp

In 2 Kings 6, the sons of the prophets were cutting down trees to build a larger dwelling place. As one of them worked, the iron axe head flew from the handle and sank into the Jordan. His immediate response was panic: “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.” Elisha asked him where it had fallen. Then he cut a stick, threw it into the water, and God caused the iron to float. What had been lost was brought back to the surface.

It's a small story tucked into the Old Testament, but it gives us a powerful picture of what happens when we lose our edge and what God can do with something we thought was gone.

Are You Swinging a Dull Axe?
There's an old story about a young lumberjack who challenged an experienced lumberjack to see who could cut the most wood in a day. The young man worked relentlessly. He swung his axe without stopping, while the older man regularly stepped away and took breaks. Surely the younger man would win.

But at the end of the day, the veteran had cut significantly more wood. The young man couldn't understand it. He had watched him stop working again and again. The veteran explained: “Every time I stopped, I was sharpening my axe.”

You can expend enormous amounts of energy and still accomplish very little if you've lost your edge. And sometimes that's exactly where we find ourselves spiritually. We're swinging harder. Trying harder. Working harder. We're praying, serving, raising families, sharing our faith, and wondering why we aren't seeing the results we expected.

Maybe the answer isn't always to swing harder. Maybe we need to sharpen the axe.

Prayer and fasting are part of how we keep our spiritual edge sharp. They aren't about proving how spiritual we are or convincing God to give us what we want. Fasting quiets competing appetites and creates space for us to become more attentive to Him.

And sometimes, when everything else gets quieter, we begin to recognize what's been happening inside us. The anger. The anxiety. The impatience. The attitudes we've picked up from the world around us. God begins sharpening our spiritual sensitivity. We hear more clearly. We see more clearly. We become more aware of what deserves our attention—and what is merely noise.

Anyone who has spent time hunting in the woods knows that not every sound means the same thing. A squirrel can make an incredible amount of noise. Eventually, you learn not to react to every rustling leaf. But then you hear a twig snap. That's different. Something heavier may be moving through the woods, and suddenly you're paying attention.

Spiritually, we need that kind of discernment. Peter warned the church: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

There is plenty of noise around us. If we react to everything, we'll exhaust ourselves chasing squirrels while missing the things that actually require our attention. We need the discernment to recognize the difference. Especially when it comes to our homes and the next generation, the church cannot afford to become spiritually dull. Stay sharp. Stay alert. Don't give up.

So what if you've already lost your edge?
The young prophet didn't merely have a dull axe. He lost the axe head altogether. And yet the story didn't end there. Notice what happened next.

1. He cried out for help. He didn't hide what happened or pretend everything was fine. He admitted it: Master, I lost it. There is protection in accountability. Sometimes restoration begins when we're willing to stop pretending and tell someone, I need help.
2. He showed Elisha where it fell. He had to return to the place where he lost it. We don't heal the past by pretending it never happened. There are times when God calls us to remember, repent, forgive, surrender, and bring that broken place to the cross.
3. When God caused the axe head to rise, Elisha told him: “Pick it up for yourself.” God brought it to the surface, but the young man still had to reach out and take it. There are moments when God calls us to respond and to take responsibility; to obey what He is saying, and pick back up what He is restoring.

Elisha threw a piece of wood into the water, and what had sunk rose again. And in that picture, we can see a beautiful reminder of the Gospel. Isaiah prophesied of Jesus:
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” Isaiah 11:1

Jesus went into death and rose again in resurrection power. Because of Him, sinking things do not have to remain at the bottom. Failure doesn't get the final word. Loss doesn't get the final word. Your present circumstances don't get to cancel what God has called you to be.

The young man was still a prophet while he was cutting wood. He was still a prophet when the axe head fell. And he was still a prophet while he stood beside the Jordan wondering how he could possibly recover what had been lost.

What he was going through did not change who God had called him to be.

So if you've become weary, sharpen the axe. If you've become distracted, learn to recognize the snap. And if you've lost something along the way, cry out, go back to where it fell, and trust God with what seems impossible to recover.

Because there is always hope in Jesus!