Axe That Swam Series

V. THE PROCLAMATION Vs. 5

At least he had the good sense not to try to continue doing the job without the axe head, he told Elisha of the problem. He confessed his failure. I do not see a lapse in time between the time of his "flying off the handle" and telling it to Elisha.

At least he did not try to continue on as if nothing was wrong. That is exactly what Samson did. When he finally gave into the trap of Delilah, his hair was shaved off. When Delilah told him the Philistines were there, he got up as if nothing had changed.

Judges 16:20-21

“And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.”

One of the lessons that we can see in this passage is go to the place where you lost your power with God and confess it as it is. It is nothing less than sin. If "flying off the handle" is the sin that caused you to lose your power from God, confess it as the vile, wicked, dark, devilish and dirty sin that it is. After all, it is what placed Christ on the cross. 1 John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Proverbs 28:13

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

Too often we are too proud to tell the Lord we have sinned against Him. If we confess our sin to the Lord, we may have to do the same to someone else.

Our attitude toward our sins plays a part in our real reason for confessing them. If we are relent, we are not really repenting of that sin. If we are not really convince that this thing is really a sin, then we are not really confessing our sin. But if our attitude is like that publican in the parable, the Lord will hear and forgive. Remember when you were a child and you got into a fight with your brother or sister. Your mom or dad would tell you to tell that other sibling you were sorry for fighting with them. You would say, "I’m sorry." even if you meant it or not. You did it to get out of trouble. There was nothing less involved. That is the same attitude many of us have when we are confessing our sin to God.

Recently I heard a radio broadcast where the preacher was making reference to this poor publican. Why is it that he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven? Because he knew if he did, he would be looking into the face of Holiness and he knew he did not measure up.

VI. THE PRESENTATION Vs. 6-7

Some of those who do not believe the Bible literal will scoff at this miracle. "How can an axe head float?", they ask. It does not violate the laws of nature. We see large pile of metal that weighs literal thousands tons float every time we go to the ocean or see them on television. (We call them ships.)

The same God who allows the axe head to float also allows the ships to sail daily instead of going to the bottom of the ocean to a watery grave. This was no great deal for God. None of His miracles are great deals.