When Your Life Flies Off The Handle
There's a story in the Old Testament about a young prophet who went to the Prophet Elisha seeking advice.
The young man was living at Elisha's School of the Prophets and complained they were out of space. New accommodations needed to be built.
Elisha agreed to allow some of the young men to go to a wooded area near the Jordan River to get some timber for new construction. Within a short time, the work began in earnest.
As the young man swung his axe at a tree, the heavy iron axehead flew off the handle and landed in the river, sinking immediately.
The young man cried out in despair to Elisha. The axe was costly, it was borrowed, and now it was gone. What could he tell the owner? How could he pay for the replacement?
Sometimes life is like that.
You could be hard at work like this young prophet, doing the right thing, when your axehead goes flying into the river.
Covid-19 felt like that most days. It seemed like in an instant life as we knew it got turned upside down. In its place arose a world of uncertainty; a world we didn't bargain for.
How do you put the axehead back on your life when it feels like it's buried beneath murky waters?
In the case of the young prophet in our story, he cried out to his master, Elisha, who empathized with him and performed a miracle.
The axehead floated to the surface. What was lost was found. What was forfeited was recovered.
Two years ago I closed my law practice and left my home of 28 years to launch a ministry in a place I'd never lived before.
A part of my plan was to speak in churches, faith-based organizations, and businesses. I made some inroads. Then came the Corona Virus. Churches stopped meeting. All events for the year were canceled. In the midst of my well-laid plans, my axehead flew off.
Just as the young prophet turned to his master, I turned to mine—Jesus. King David said it this way. "My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up." Psalm 5:3.
As I looked up, the Lord reminded me the crisis didn't take Him by surprise. Meetings went virtual. New opportunities arose to reach even greater numbers through online events.
In John, Chapter 16, Jesus told His disciples that it was good that He would depart the earth and the Holy Spirit would come. Jesus physically ministered within a narrow geographical area. The Spirit of God would be everywhere in the world.
He also said his followers would do "greater works" than He did because He was going to His father.
God often brings greater things from situations we see as hopeless. The iron axehead of my plans went flying into the river. But, in time, God made it float. He opened new doors of ministry.
"As you have believed, let be done unto you," Jesus said to the Roman Centurion in Matthew, Chapter 8.
In the middle of your storm, turn to the Savior with expectancy. In the middle of your loss, know that all is not lost. The young man cried out to Elisha because he had a mustard seed of faith to believe that his master could bring about a recovery, even in a seemingly hopeless situation.
In his mind—though his axehead was buried underwater in the Jordan riverbed, it was not over. "With God, nothing is impossible." Luke 1:37. With God, there is always hope.
Friends, as you walk through your valleys, let's look to Jesus. Let's look up together in expectation.
"All things are possible to him who believes." Mark 9:23.
Take heart. Your axehead will surely float.
Wayne and Sharon
