Ecclesiastes 10:10, “If the axe is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength;…”
Growing up as a child, I was exposed to working with gardening and field tools. I lived with my grandma for six years in the farm till I went to high school. I had to learn to use several tools an axe being one of them. There is nothing frustrating as trying to use a blunt, dull, unattractive tool. They are time consuming, too much strength is required and very discouraging.
Now sharpening tools wasn’t one of those things which was fun either, it was also time consuming and needed strength but the neat thing was, if it was well sharpened, task to complete became very easy, less time would be spent and it became fun doing it. The tool could not be sharpened by just anything but the right tool for it. It removed the dents, soil, rust and narrowed it to sharp edge. We can surely apply this strategy even in our day to day walk with Christ. I sure need sharpening everyday because of my rough edges to be like Jesus..
Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do today that I have to spend the first three hours praying (paraphrased)”. In other words, I have so much to do that I have to take the first three hours to sharpen my tools for the day. Why do people get frustrated when they are trying to perform tasks and nothing is happening? It’s a sign of someone trying to chop down their tree with a blunt dull axe. Stop and sharpen it first then continue to chop. I remember one day I got home after it had snowed, as I was pulling to my drive way, my car could not go up the hill to my house and at the same time it could not back up. I was stuck on snow, very frustrating. I needed to be somewhere that evening, it was cold and no one to help. Several attempts to drive it out of the snow made it worse with now less hope that night. I applied different strategies but still nothing was happening. So I stopped and wondered why I was trying to chop my tree with a blunt axe. I got back to the car and sharpened my axe through prayer. Right after that God gave me an idea to which I applied and the car pulled out of that mess. Praise God. I wish I had sharpened my axe right after I knew the tree had to come down.
If you do not sharpen your axe, Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “expect to use more strength”, When Saul could not face Goliath because he had a blunt axe, David showed up with a sharpened one, so was King Jehoshaphat who was faced by three armies, he sharpened his axe through prayers and used less strength because God fought for them. You can’t go about blaming the axe for not doing the work when you have denied it the means to function effectively. What tree do you want to chop down today? I know you have an axe in your hands no doubt but the question is, have you sharpened it through prayers, God’s word or encouraged yourself? I don’t know about you but I want to use less strength to chop my trees down. Blessings Ev
He Has Magnified His Word 