Good morning. Have you ever considered that each miracle is like a parable in action? Every miracle that we read about in scripture has a story behind it. Usually, miracles are seen as the power of God displayed when a person or group of people find themselves in immediate need. But each person touched by a miracle has a story. That is true if we are reading about an individual who was in some way sick or disabled, or if we are considering the people of Israel who would collectively face certain destruction if God did not immediately intervene.
Sometimes, miracles serve to both meet the needs of an individual and to testify about Jesus, God’s Messiah. Other times, the parable told by a miracle may be to remind people that God’s power is absolute, and His love is limitless.
Consider the parable of the miracle we read about in 2 Kings 6:1-7. The setting is that sons of the prophets decided they needed to remodel their dwelling, a project which required supplies, mainly logs. Timber in that country could be found along rivers, so they went to the river Jordan to cut down trees. One of those young men had the misfortune of having his axe head fly off the handle and land in the river. It was a borrowed tool which made it even more unfortunate. God’s prophet Elisha didn’t hesitate. He found the general place in the river where the axe head had gone in, lifted a prayer, threw a stick into the water, and amazingly, when the stick floated to the surface so did the axe head. Usually, it is said that the iron was made to float. Perhaps, but I’m not so sure. Instead, it may have been that the stick was thrown into the water like a spear and incredibly found its way to the axe head. By God’s miraculous intervention, they were joined and floated to the surface. Either way, I think that such a question misses the point, the parable, of this event.
Was an iron tool really all that important? Why did God concern Himself with that seemingly mundane request?
Some have interpreted this passage of scripture as an allegory, that the iron axe head represents the souls of the lost, explaining that the axe head represents how the sinner is redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Others have written that the story of the axe head can only be understood when it is connected to the wood of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. To each of these theories and others related but unmentioned, I would say, “perhaps”.
But what if it is enough to understand that the lesson of this and so many other miracles God provided and continues to provide, is that He cares. What if the great message understood by the young man who lost the axe head, by the prophet Elisha, and by all who will read and believe, what if the parable of this miracle is that God loves you so much that even the mundane is important to Him. What if it is a reminder that God cares about the trivial things that bother us. What if it is a simple statement that when we have no answers, God does…always.
Something to think about.
Vern