Iron, That Floats—even Swims.

Iron, That Floats—Even Swims.

2 Kings 6:1-7NLT

Whenever I counsel people who are wrestling with the will of God. I remind them of a simple truth: “God wants you to get where God wants you to go, more than you want to get where God wants you to go.” I’ll read it once more—it should relieve you from that tension headache.

This is for certainty, If you keep in step with the spirit, God is going to make sure you get where He wants you to go.

2 Kings 6:1-7NLT 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. 2 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.”

“All right,” he told them, “go ahead.”

3 “Please come with us,” someone suggested.

“I will,” he said. 4 So he went with them.

When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. 5 But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!”

6 “Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. 7 “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.

About this setting—This was some type of school, maybe a school for prophets. At least we know it was a place of spiritual gathering. Regardless, it was too small. These men didn’t waste anytime, they decided they wanted a larger meeting place, so they proceeded to find a place. One might have suggested, “Hey, let’s go toward the Jordon River, there’s some nice trees around the river!”

An Overview—

Vs.1-2—These weren’t ordinary men, no, they were prophets. They came to worship Yahweh, they came to grow in the spirit, They came with the anointing, but left with even more… These men were dead serious about their walk with God. They met with one purpose, to hear God.

They met to discern—What’s God saying?

Vs.3-4—So a group of prophets proceed to travel to the River Jordon, Elisha is asked to go with them. He does.

So in verse 5, They proceed in cutting down nice trees to make a gathering place. But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax-head fell into the river.

Notice the past tense in 2 Kings 6, Verse 5b, “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!”

The ax-head is gone—This young apprentice regarded his loss as final. He had no expectation whatsoever that the ax-head would be retrieved. I think maybe what he wanted is a little mercy or a little sympathy, but he wasn't expecting a miracle.

“I want to stop here and remind you of the reason these prophets of God begin cutting down timber. It was for a gathering of growth; for a meeting of prayer and testimony. What’s God saying?” P.H

Elisha say’s, Where did it fall? Let’s begin there.

One pastor wrote about this verse—“If you drop your keys in a river of molten lava, let them go man, because they're gone!”

Let me remind you—Any mineral with a density greater than 1 g/cm³ doesn't float. The density of cast-iron is approximately 7.2 g/cm³ translation iron-ax-heads don’t float.

2 Kings 6:6-7TM The Holy Man said, “Where did it sink?” The man showed him the place.

He cut off a branch and tossed it at the spot. The ax-head floated up. 7 “Grab it,” he said. The man reached out and took it.

Again ax-heads don't float. Or do they? Maybe it’s time to pray a ridiculous prayer!

The Bible say’s, “The iron did swim!”

This ranks as one of my favorite miracles in the scripture for a couple reasons. First, this isn't a life or death situation. It's just a borrowed ax head.

The second reason I love this miracle is because, it's such a ridiculous request.

Elisha had to feel a little funny even verbalizing this prayer:

Prayer—“Dear God, I know that ax-heads have a density of 7.2 g/cm³. But Lord, would you consider defying the laws of physics and doing what has never been done before? Please make this iron ax head swim.”

Have you read the Bible lately? Faith is a risky business. The goal of faith is not the elimination of risk. In fact, the greatest risk is taking no risks.

Q&A: Are you willing to grab the ax-head when it comes up? Will you receive a miracle?

Mark Twain once said, 25 years from now you will be more disappointed about the things you didn't do, then by the ones you did do.