4/21/2011 7:24:11 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The student—ministry restored
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 6:1-7
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Behold now, the place
before you where we are living is too limited for us. 2 "Please let us go to the Jordan and each
of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where
we may live." So he said, "Go." 3 Then one said, "Please be willing to go
with your servants." And he answered, "I shall go." 4 So he went with them; and when they came to
the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But
as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out
and said, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed." 6 Then the man of God said, "Where did it
fall?" And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it
in there, and made the iron float. 7 He
said, "Take it up for yourself." So he put out his hand and took it.”
A
little background is in order here to help understand what is going on. Back in chapter four we find that Elisha had
done a miracle to make sure that the sons of the prophets did not die from the
food they were eating, and this story picks up after that one. Elisha was not only a miracle working
prophet, but he was also a teacher to the young men in the schools. This brings up the point of how important
Christian education is, for without it the next generation would not know the
things of the Lord. 2Timothy 2:2 shows
this point in the NT setting, “The things which you have heard from me in the
presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to
teach others also.” It has been wisely
said that we are always one generation away from losing the teachings of the
Lord, and that is why they need to be taught and passed on. Both D. L. Moody and Charles H. Spurgeon were
not educated men, and the Lord used both to start schools that are still going
on today. They both saw the need of
passing on to the next generation the things of God.
The
sons of the prophets needed to add on to their school at Jericho so being the
kind shepherd type that Elisha was he went with them to the river to get the
trees that were needed to build the school.
The story of the lost ax head is seen in this section, and one must look
at it from the prospective of that time or one may miss what is going on. Metal tools were scarce during that time and
there was even a law about what would happen if an ax head came off and injured
or killed someone. The young man had
borrowed this ax head and it would be very expensive to have to buy another,
and so he came to Elisha and told him his problem. He was smart enough to make sure he knew
where it went into the river and so Elisha, through the power of God, did a
miracle to retrieve the ax head. This
was important to the young man, and to Elisha, but it was also important to
God, and so the ax head floated and the young man picked it up.
In
his commentary on this section Warren Wiersbe points out a couple of lessons
that can be learned from this miracle from 2Kings. The first point he makes is that all we have
is borrowed from the Lord and we are but stewards of the things we have. This would include our gifts and our
abilities that we receive from the Lord.
Some may think that they learned them so they earned them, but it is the
Lord who gives the ability and the talent to all.
Next
is how we take care of the “tools” that the Lord has given to us. I remember a passage, I think, is from
1Timothy where Paul exhorts Timothy to kindle the fire of the gifts that God
had given to him. In other words Timothy
you have to use those gifts or take a chance on losing them, so start using
them for the glory of the Lord. There is
a passage from Ecc. 10:10 that speaks of keeping our ax heads sharpened so that
the work is not as hard and this applies to believers today. We need to keep our spiritual tools sharpened
so we can use them better, and this involves things like Bible Study,
memorizing God’s Word, and meditating on it, listening to God’s servants
preach, and also prayer, and doing all of this will help keep our “ax head”
sharp for the work of the Lord.
The
ax-head was lost and the Lord can restore things that are lost in our
life. The important thing is to realize
that you lost it, so one needs to take inventory of his life from time to time.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am not to work for the Lord without a
cutting edge on my ax head. It is easy
in the rush, rush world to go around with a dull ax head and miss out on doing
things for the Lord. I love Eph. 2:10, “For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” This follows on the footsteps of verses eight
and nine which speak of how one is saved, but many miss verse ten. This verse says to me that God has prepared
for me work to do for Him, and in order for me to accomplish that work I must
keep my walk with Him clean, I must study to show myself approved, and I must
be willing to do this work or else I believe that the Lord will use someone
else to do this work and this is something that I do not want to happen so
keeping my “ax head” sharp is important.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Psalm 130:23-24 are important verses to remember and
to apply to my life often: “Search me, O
God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there
be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”
2.
Continue to learn contentment. Phil. 4:11 “Not that I speak from want, for I
have learned to be
content in whatever circumstances I am.”
3.
I want to give myself to the Lord for worship and
for service this day: Romans 12:1-2 “I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
4/21/2011 8:14:30 AM
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