Don’t Lose Your Edge
Hard mental and emotional toil, contact with disagreeable persons or things, disappointments and physical exhaustion, all have a tendency to drain our energies and depress our spirits. As a ploughshare that has tilled much hard and stony ground, or as an axe head that has felled many trees and has become dull, so our lives are subject to losing its edge. It is when what made us successful in the past, whether it be our determination or skills, is no longer there. At such a time, we need a little help from our friends. In Proverbs 27.17, it says: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
As a young man in Alaska, I have cut down many trees. I know the importance of having a sharp axe head. When the axe becomes dull, it requires more strength. King Solomon wrote: “If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength.” (Eccl. 10.10) It doesn’t take much to sharpen the edge. But does require stopping what you are doing and to evaluating the situation. To go on in your own strength will only wear you out and place you in danger’s way.
There was a time when Elisha and his prophetic team were wanting to expand their ministry headquarters. Elisha sent his disciples to the river to cut down some trees to build with. Each had his axe and each had to bring back a log. In the process of cutting down the trees, one of the young prophets lost his axe head in the river. I am sure the axe head was loosening over time, but the young man was negligent in maintaining his edge and at once the head flew off the handle into the river. When that happened, the work stopped. When one loses his edge, he loses it all.
The axe head went into the river. There was no way this young man could recover it. He needed to go to the One who could help him. He needed to reconnect with the One that could do all things. He needed to ask for help. He couldn’t just go to the store and buy another one. At that time, an axe head was very costly. It was like buying a car in today’s economy. This disciple was panicking, as he cried out: “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” (II Kings 6.5) He knew that his skill, talent, calling and ministry was not his own. He was just a steward. He needed to give an account of what he had received. He had to admit that he had lost his edge.
Elisha responded to the young man’s cry by asking him a question: “Where did it fall?” (II Kings 6.6) He had to retrace his steps and think about his situation. Where did he lose his edge? Was he negligent in his daily walk with God? Did he get too busy with his own ambitions and greed? Did reliance on his own strength and past successes make him proud and stubborn? He had to go back before he could go forward. Elisha went with him to the place where he had lost his edge. He cut a branch off a tree and threw it into the river. This tree represented the cross and as Elisha applied the cross to the desperate situation of the young prophet, the axe head floated. As he reached out and took it, his ministry and effectiveness was restored.
If you have lost your edge and you are finding yourself struggling in the strength of your flesh, then do what this young man did. Go to Source. Go to Jesus. Humble yourself and ask for His help. Embrace the cross once again and you will receive His empowerment and His restoration.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Ecc. 10.10; II Kings 6.1-7; Prov. 27.17; II John 8; I Peter 4.11; Zec. 4.6