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.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/29/you-did/
Listen to what the Apostle Paul say’s about all this:
1 Corinthians 1:26-27NLT For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
God, in his wisdom, saves people by way of the cross and no other. People think this way to be foolish, but no matter how much they try to know God through their own wisdom, they will never succeed. P.H
1 Corinthians 1:27TM Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God.
Nothing has changed—the greatest breakthroughs, miracles, and turning points in scripture can be traced back to someone who is willing to look foolish!
Always remember this, God is always working behind the scenes, engineering our circumstances and setting us up for success.
Ephesians 2:10NASB For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
I recently read a fascinating study on divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is intellectual originality. It is creative and counter intuitive thought. It is thinking outside the box. Divergent thinking is a thought process, or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.
The study found that 98% of children between the ages of three and five score in the genius category for divergent thinking.
Between the ages of eight and ten, the number drops to 32%. By the time the kids become teenagers, it drops down to 10%. And only 2% of those over 25 scored in the genius category for divergent thinking.
In other words, Do you believe an ax-head can float? How about the miracle you’re in need of?
To give Ephesians 2, verse 10, greater Justice, I should read verses 1 through 9.
Ephesians 2:1-9TPT And his fullness fills you, even though you were once like corpses, dead in your sins and offenses. 2 It wasn’t that long ago that you lived in the religion, customs, and values of this world, obeying the dark ruler of the earthly realm who fills the atmosphere with his authority, and works diligently in the hearts of those who are disobedient to the truth of God. 3 The corruption that was in us from birth was expressed through the deeds and desires of our self-life. We lived by whatever natural cravings and thoughts our minds dictated, living as rebellious children subject to God’s wrath like everyone else.
4 But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy. 5 Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace! 6 He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ!
7 Throughout the coming ages we will be the visible display of the infinite riches of His grace and kindness, which was showered upon us in Jesus Christ. 8 For by grace you have been saved by faith. Nothing you did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the love gift from God that brought us to Christ! 9 So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving.
Again, I want you to hear this scripture once more from, The Passion Translation:
Ephesians 2:10TPT We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!
This word planned or prepared means, God goes ahead of us…
In Paul’s day and time, a servant planned or prepared, ahead of a King. (The servant planned and even walked the route) However, with God—The King goes before His servants!
Think about it—We are His workmanship, we are His poetry. Re-created, filled with His destiny!
Tapping into our natural weirdness is one key to divergent thinking. Another key is divergent spirituality.
Have you read the Bible lately? Lots of wild and wacky stuff! At face value, God says and does lots of things that seem awfully weird.
He tells Ezekiel to cook his meals over dung for 390 days. God uses a dumb donkey to speak to Balaam. Got tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. And what about speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost that was downright strange.
However this strange phenomenon (tongues as of fire), brought thousands to salvation.
Can I tell you normality is overrated.
GK Chesterton once said, “How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your cosmos.”
Q&A: Got any Ax heads that need to swim? Need a miracle?
Mark 9:23TM Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”
Jesus said, Anything can happen; All things are possible if you believe.
Benediction.
