Let Go of the Axe

Isaiah 10:15

“Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it?

Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it”

That would be like a club wielding those who lift it, or like a rod lifting him who is not wood.”

Smoke and mirrors they say.  Yes, many magicians use smoke and mirrors to perform the tricks and amaze the crowd.  For the thinkers in the audience, the ones who watch how the trick is done, sit in wonder because they cannot figure it out.  Others just watch for pure entertainment.  Either way the magicians let us see only what they want us to see and nothing more.  

Too often we only focus on what we can see in our Christian lives.  We see the axe that chopped wood but never pay much attention to the person wielding the axe. The first thing we do is go and see how sharp the axe was. In our minds, we think we can pick that thing up and do the same thing with it.  In my past, I am guilty of thinking this way as well.  Only to be humbled by my own inadequate strength to chop the wood that fast. 

As Christians we get caught up in doing things our way under our own strength and power only to be humbled, because the outcome is not what we desired or pictured when we started.  Ephesians tells us that we war not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces and those battles are fought using spiritual weapons of war like the armor of God spelled out for us in chapter 6. 

Here the Lord is reminding us that it is He that wields the axe and saw not us.  We have to come to the place where we believe the Lord is fighting for us and not against us.  We may see, with our own eyes, the axe cutting off relationships or the saw cutting away a bad habits but it is the Lord who is behind the pruning.  John 15:2-6 says, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”  The vine cannot prune itself. 

Today, recognize the things in your life that the Lord wants to prune and stop fighting it.  Just like Paul, on the road to Damascus, Saul encounters Jesus and he says to him, “why do you kick against the goads?”  Just stop and recognize the Lord is wielding the axe and saw.  If you let him, He will prune you up so you can bear much fruit.  We often don’t see what goes on behind the axe and saw but a loving God who gave His son to die on cross for the forgiveness of our sins is behind it.  Remember to let the Lord hold the axe and saw in your life and stop fighting for control of it.   

Prayer: Father, how often do we take control of things we are never meant to have control of. How often do we assume that the outcome is our control when it is clear that your hand is at work. Even Jesus asked for the pain of cross he was to endure to be removed but in the moment he said, “Not my will but yours be done.” I pray that your will be done and that we stop taking control of things by letting you saw away and remove what needs to be removed from our lives. In Jesus name, amen.