Resources > Bible Studies Anchors and Ax Heads Always Sink…Don’t They?!? Posted by Rev.Jeff Dixon, CCC Ministries on Sep 2, 2007, 12:40

Anchors and Ax Heads Always Sink…Don’t They?!?

2 Kings 6:1-6

These are the notes that were used by Jeff Dixon in the Celebration Worship Experience of the same title. These have not been rewritten and are in an outline/thought format. Hopefully you will find these helpful as you listen and follow along with this study. The study itself is a part of our RISK series and is the second of two installments on the big concept of Defying the Odds!

Here is the passage for this study...

An Axhead Floats

 1 The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live."

      And he said, "Go."

3 Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?"

      "I will," Elisha replied.

4 And he went with them.

      They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

 6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

According to quantum physics the shortest possible time is called PLANCK Time. 

Anything less than that time and quantum mechanics can’t tell whether the events are simultaneous

The shortest possible distance is called PLANCK length

Any shorter than that distance and quantum mechanics can’t distinguish between here and there.

That is where God enters

God is in the space and time that according to quantum mechanics…nothing can be….All of that to say that God is not bound by the dimensional thinking we tend to confine Him to…and if we can remember that, then our outlook on life becomes transformed….

Most of our problems are not circumstantial

Most of our problems are perceptual

Our problems seem really big because to us because for many God seems really small

We reduce God to the size of our biggest problem

You know the tragedy in life?

It is someone whose God gets smaller and smaller with each passing day

The more we grow...and we should be growing

The bigger God should get

The bigger God gets, the easier it is to take risks

God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get to where God wants you to go…

Say that again…that is good news

If you keep in step with the Spirit, God is going to make sure you get to where you need to be. He is working…in front of you, behind, you, above you, below you, before and after you to make it happen

2 Kings 6 records what may be one of the most silliest prayers in all of Scripture, but it teaches us valuable lessons about defying the odds. Lets learn them together. Here we go... 

Defying the Odds Means You Change Your Tense

(v.5)  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

A group of prophets are chopping down trees near a river and one of their iron ax heads falls into the river

The prophet who lost the ax head said to Elisha, “Alas, Master, for it was borrowed!”

The verb tense there is important….it is past tense

As far as he is concerned the ax head is gone

It reminds me of one of Jack Handley’s Deep Thoughts

If you drop your keys in a river of molten lava, let 'em go man, they’re gone!

If you drop your ax head in a river, let it go man, its gone!

This apprentice regarded his loss as final

He had no expectation that the ax head would be retrieved

I think he wanted a little mercy or sympathy, but I don’t think he was asking for a miracle

He didn’t even have a category for what was about to happen and there is good reason for that.

Any mineral with a density greater than one gram per cubic centimeter doesn’t float. The density of cast iron is 7.2 grams per cubic centimeter

Translation: Ax heads don’t float

Or do they?

 Defying the Odds Means You Change Your Mind

One-way to find out: Pray a ridiculous prayer!

(v. 6)  The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

If I am Elisha I feel bad for the guy who lost the ax head. Maybe I let him borrow mine. Maybe I drive him to the hardware store to get another one….But honestly…It does not cross my mind to pray it would float

But you can see the wheels turning in Elisha’s head because he asks where the ax head fell in….if I am the apprentice I am thinking, what difference does that make?

But he shows Elisha where he lost it

Elisha cuts a stick and throws it into the water and something happens that probably never happened before (and may not have happened since)

And the iron did swim...it came to the surface!

Elisha saw something no one else did…He had a hope that God would and could do the impossible

Hope is so important! (Jeff did not use this illustration, it is a bonus on-line)

There is a medical study (Chris Peterson, "Optimism and By-pass Surgery,") in which 122 men who had suffered their first heart attack were evaluated on their degree of hopefulness and pessimism:

"Of the 25 most pessimistic men, 21 had died eight years later.

 Of the 25 most optimistic, only 6 had died!…

Loss of hope increased the odds of death more than 300 percent; it predicted death more accurately than any medical risk factor, including blood pressure, amount of damage to the heart, or cholesterol level."

"Better to eat Twinkies in hope than to eat broccoli in despair."

Source: Chris Peterson, "Optimism and By-pass Surgery," in Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control. (Oxford University Press, 1993

Defying the Odds Means You Change Your Relationship

(v.2-5) Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." And he said, "Go." Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" "I will," Elisha replied.  And he went with them.

      They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

This isn’t a life or death situation

It is a borrowed ax head, he lost it, but if that is the worst thing that ever happens to you, then you’ve led a pretty sheltered life

You know what I’m saying, It is an ax head!

But there is something that is intriguing…

They need do build a place for these prophets to live…they realize it is important to be together. They also want their leader, Elisha, the representative of God himself to be close to them…they desired this relationship and connection…and they were close enough to cry out to Him over something that wasn’t so small

This is interesting because it reveals something else about God that risk takers need to understand…

God is great not just because there is nothing too big for Him

God is great because nothing is to small for Him either

Defying the Odds Means You Change Your Reality
(v.6b-7) When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

 Elisha had to feel a little funny praying…

                Dear God, I know that ax heads have a density of 7.2 grams per cubic centimeter. I know that at body temperature, no liquid has a viscosity as low as water. But would you please consider defying the laws of physics and doing what has never been done before. Please make this iron ax head swim (parpahrase)

The reality is nothing is to difficult for God

Here is what we discover

To the infinite all finites are equal

There is no big, small, easy or difficult, possible or impossible…

When it comes to God there is no degree of difficulty

There are no odds when it comes to God…all bets are off

You can defy the odds...really you can!

To listen or watch this Bible Study and Celebration Worship event click the link below
http://www.touchandchange.com/artman/publish/article_1440.shtml