Ridiculous!

II Kings 6 records one of the most improbable miracles in Scripture: “One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. Let’s go down to the Jordan river, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.” When the arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. But as one of them was chopping, his ax head fell into the river. He said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.”  (verses 1-5)

Notice the verb tense. This apprentice uses the past-tense. As far as he’s concerned, this axhead is as good as gone. This apprentice regarded his loss as final. He had no expectation whatsoever that it would retrieved. I think he wanted a little mercy or a little sympathy, but he wasn’t expecting a miracle! He didn’t have a category for what was about to happen.

I am so unlike Elisha. Whenever someone comes to me with a problem, my first response is to organize some human mechanism to meet his need. Perhaps I would have taken an offering for him next Sunday to buy him a new axe head. Maybe start a support group for people who have lost axe heads. Or build a dam to stop the water so we can recover the axe head. Do you know what I mean? Then, if none of that worked, I would have prayed.

But you can tell the wheels of faith are for Elisha. He asked, “Where did it fall?” When the apprentice showed him the spot where the axe-head fell, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water. Then the axe head began floated. I love the old King James Version of this  in 2 King 6:6: “And the iron did swim.” 


I don't know that I can promise you can always make iron swim. My experience has not been that God always does what I ask Him to do in the manner I asked Him to do it. For me, this story isn't a story to challenge by faith so that I can believe iron can swim. I believe that if God chooses to work in that manner, it can! The challenge for me personally is to be more like Elisha and less like....me! To take every situation to God first and quit using my human mechanisms first. Who knows? If I do that, I may actually see iron swim!