Put The Handle On The Ax Of Your Mouth

2 Kings 6:1-7 (NKJV)

The Floating Ax Head

¹ And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. ² Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.”

So he answered, “Go.”

³ Then one said, “Please consent to go with your servants.”

And he answered, “I will go.” ⁴ So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. ⁵ But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.”

⁶ So the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. ⁷ Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

This is the Scripture that Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s Sunday sermon was about today. There were a few things that stood out to me in today’s message, but I want to narrow the focus.

Today I want to focus on the young man and one of the two things he is criticized for by some preachers today:

This first thing is that this young student is criticized for being careless because the head of his ax flew off the ax handle.

This young man wasn’t being careless at all. In fact he was being very careful for he knew the ax head was a little loose. There was a real danger because he knew that the ax head could fly off the handle because the ax was old. So instead of just walking up to a tree and start hewing it down he thought about where his fellow classmates would be. His thoughtfulness caused him to make sure his ax head was aimed toward the water and not his classmates’ heads or bodies.

The fact of the matter, God in the Mosaic Law for accidentally killing someone, especially with an ax, in Deuteronomy 19:1-7 had them provide cities of refuge to those to whom this happened. This was because the grieving relative might think they did it on purpose.

As you can see that this student was very conscientious in making sure that the ax head was pointed toward the water. He actually saved someone’s life that day.  So you see the young student was carefully making sure that no one got hurt with his ax head that really did fly off its handle.

Also, if the young man hadn’t been careful, for the Jordan River is very muddy and you can’t see the bottom of it, he would not have known where the ax head had entered the water when Elisha had asked.

We need to be careful also by keeping the ax heads of our own mouths on the handle of our brains. We need to guard our lips so that we don’t wound those around us by spewing out whatever comes to the surface.

The old adage “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.” is a lie. Word can kill! How many young people or older people, who are in a weak time in their lives, have been so hurt by the words whether spoken to them or written on social media have taken their own lives? And what are we who are stronger doing about it? How can you and I be of help to these hurting people that we know? We who are strong can listen and comfort and pray with them.

What is something you know you can do? I would like to know what kind things you do to help those who are hurting around you that you may not even know they are considering suicide? This week maybe we can each reach out to those who are sad in their countenance and give a smile and greet them by name. You may never know that by that small gesture you may have saved a life.