The Would–be Woodcutter

2 Kings 6:1–7

One year, when I was in college, I cut, stacked and delivered firewood. Other than a summer spent shoveling gravel, it was the hardest job I ever had. Thus I have a good deal of empathy for the hapless logger in this story.

Elisha’s school for prophets had prospered, and their meeting place had become too small. Someone suggested that they go into the woods, cut logs and enlarge their facilities. Elisha agreed and was invited to accompany the workers.

The party made its way up the Jordan Valley to the spot where they planned to fell trees and float them downriver to the building site. Things were going well until, as Matthew Henry put it, “one of them, accidentally fetching too fierce a stroke (as those who work seldom are apt to be too violent), threw off his ax–head into the water.” 

“Oh, my lord,” the man cried, “it was borrowed!” 

“Where did it go?” Elisha asked. 

When the man pointed to the place, Elisha cut a stick, reached with it into the water, and “made the iron float.” 

“Lift it out,” Elisha said. The man “reached out his hand and took it.”

Some have suggested that nothing miraculous happened, that Elisha simply probed in the water with his stick until he located the ax–head and dragged it into sight. That would hardly be worth mentioning, however. 

No, it was a miracle: Elisha caused the axe-head to “flow” as the text actually says. The axe-head was set in motion by God’s hand and drifted out of deep water into the shallows where the workman could retrieve it.

The simple miracle enshrines a profound truth: God cares about the small stuff of life—lost axe-heads, lost coins, lost keys, lost files, lost contact lenses, lost lunker trout, the little things that cause us to fret. He does not always restore what was lost—he has good reasons of his own—but he understands our loss and comforts us in our distress. 

Next to the assurance of our salvation, the assurance of God’s love is essential. Without it we would feel that we are alone in the world, exposed to innumerable perils, worries and fears. It’s good to know that He cares; that He is moved by our losses, small as they may be; that our concerns are His concerns as well. 

I think of those times when my children grieved over some small loss and my heart was touched by their grief. The broken or mislaid thing had no significance for me—it was some trifling thing—but it wasn’t trifling to them. It mattered to me because it mattered to them and my children mattered to me. 

And so it is with our Heavenly Father. Our small worries mean everything to Him because we mean everything to Him. We can cast our care upon Him because he cares about us (1 Peter 5:7). 

His grace is great enough to meet the great things,

The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,

The roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless,

The sudden storms beyond life’s control.

His grace is great enough to meet the small things,

The little pin–prick troubles that annoy,

The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,

The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy. —Annie Johnson Flint

David Roper

Excerpted from my Flavord with Salt, Discovery House Publishers