Falling Axheads: What do you do when your tool falls into the water?

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

—Matthew 6:31-33

This morning during my quiet time with God I read two devotions back to back, both of them including a story about an axhead falling into water. That got my attention. Then I remembered that yesterday I recovered the misplaced rusty head of an iron tool that I usually display on my deck. That really made me ponder.

The first devotion from Our Daily Bread made reference to the story in 2 Kings 6:1-7 in which the prophets who were following Elisha decided to build a bigger meeting place. In the process of cutting wood, a worker’s axhead fell into the water. He cried out to Elisha, who came to his rescue. Elisha threw a stick in the water and the axhead floated to the surface. A miracle indeed! The author of the devotion assures us that God cares about the details in our life—lost axheads, lost keys, lost glasses, lost phones—anything that troubles us.(1)

The second devotion from Daily Guideposts was written by rancher Erika Bentsen, who describes her circumstances on a minus ten degree day. As she used an ax to break up the ice in her horse’s trough, the axhead fell off and sunk through the hole in the ice into three feet of water. Instead of sticking her arm into the ice water to retrieve it, she opted to retrieve her electric tank heater instead. As she entered the pump house where the heater was stored, she discovered a broken valve in the pump had caused flooding in the building. God had used frigid temperatures and a falling axhead to lead Erika to the pump house, so she could fix the valve. Likewise, God can use our unpleasant situations to lead us to unexpected blessings.(2)

Both devotions were prepublished, but both can be applied to our current world situation. Many of us are used to navigating life with our tools. We work using our skills, our degrees, and even processes we have designed. We entertain ourselves with the tools of sports, theater, and eating out with others. We take care of our bodies using the tools at the gym and our spirits with the tools at church. But during this pandemic we have lost the use of many of our tools. For some of us, our place of work has shut down. All sports arenas, theaters, restaurants, gyms, and churches are closed as well. What do we do? Like the worker in the Bible story, we can cry out—to THE LORD. And like Erika, we can follow His lead to where we need to go to fix what is broken.

During our time of isolation, we can evaluate our priorities. Have we placed other things before our Lord? Have we been lovers of ourselves, worshiping and working in our own strength, whether physical, mental, or financial (2 Timothy 3:2)? Have we worshiped others, celebrities, sports figures, musicians, even our friends and own family members, placing them above God?

God does care about the details of our life. He cares about lost axheads, lost jobs, but mostly lost people. He wants us to fix what is broken by placing Him first, then He will take care of all the rest. He knows what we need and will provide.

When we are lost in the midst of a world crisis, we can trust Him to lead us in the right direction. Maybe that will include using our tools in a whole new way, like teachers facilitating digital learning and families entertaining and exercising within the walls of their own home and churches building a bigger meeting place by holding services online.

Perhaps when the pandemic has ceased we will view our old way of navigating life as rusty as the head of the vintage iron tool I recovered, a relic to remind us of how far we’ve come.

Dear Lord, thank You for caring about all the details of my life. May I refuse to worry, but keep You first, for You will provide for all my needs and guide me in the way to go. Amen.

___________________________

[1] Our Daily Bread, (Grand Rapids, MI, Our Daily Bread Ministries, 2019), March 28.

[2] Bentsen, Erika, Daily Guideposts 2020: A Spirit-Lifting Devotional, (New York, Guideposts Books & Inspirational Media, 2020), 95.