Discover His heart: His Word provides the wisdom we need to keep sharp!
A few years ago a friend and I prepared a meal in her home for our families. My job was chopping veggies, so I searched through her drawer for the best knife I could find. Now, it needs to be understood that in food prep, it’s all about the knife for me. Maybe that comes from my Italian heritage, I don’t know, but I want my cutting knife to carry the right weight in the handle, fit easily in the hand and cut like a dream.
On that day I couldn’t find a knife to fit any of those requirements. The knives were so dull they couldn’t cut through butter…almost. I ask my friend if she had a sharp knife, and she replied, “No, I can’t have a sharp knife. I would cut myself.” She didn’t get it. My job was tedious, to say the least. Aarghhh…
The other day I spent some time in my daughter’s kitchen doing food prep and once again my job included chopping veggies. In her drawer was the perfect knife, great balance, great fit and the sharpest of blades, and I whipped through those veggies effortlessly. My daughter got it. A sharp blade requires less effort for the task and provides greater safety in the process. Bottom line – we have to keep our edge.
@ Ecclesiastes 10
“Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.” (10) Well, obviously Solomon got it, and there are some lessons to be learned from a dull ax. Whether we realize it or not, a sharpened ax will lose its edge over time with use or without use.
An ax that sits on a shelf without being used, no matter how sharp it once was, will begin to lose its edge over time through oxidation from humidity and other elements. Only when it is taken off the shelf and sharpened will it once again be useful to do the job it was intended. Sometimes we go through periods in life where we feel we are sitting on the shelf, not very useful and, well, kind of oxidizing. That is where we’ll stay unless we sharpen up – sharpen our skills, our training and get up-to-date in our thinking. It’s amazing how just sitting in on a local training course or an online session in our field will get our creative juices flowing or open doors for the future. We have to keep our edge.
An ax will lose its edge from overuse as well. After a couple of hours of chopping, slicing and dicing the other day, my knife was starting to get a little dull, but I knew my son-in-law would be able to fix that in no time. When a knife starts to dull, it doesn’t go as easily through the onions or whatever we are cutting and that provides a little play in its action where a slight turn of the blade can cause it to go places where we don’t want it to go. It’s a subtle deterioration that slowly moves to a risky venture for us.
We so often are slicing and dicing our way through life, and I mean that in only the kindest of terms, and over time we have dulled our edge. Our work takes a greater effort than ever before and even our safety may be at stake. This is when it is time to reevaluate the tool, our skill or our vocation by putting down the ax and picking up the sharpener. Perhaps a little sabbatical is in order or once again attending a class or a refresher online, something that will sharpen our edge and help our efforts moving forward. I once read, “Don’t work harder, work smarter.”
Most important is our walk with the Lord – we don’t want to lose our edge. If we sense our relationship with Him is taking more effort and feeling a little dull, it’s time for some sharpening, stepping away from the day-to-day for some alone time with Him. He said, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)
And “That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.”(10) Thank you, Solomon, for your wisdom today and encouragement to keep our edge sharp!
Moving Forward: No dull ax here, I want to keep sharp for Him so that my efforts will accomplish the most for the Kingdom.
Tomorrow @ Zechariah 8-14
Phyllis Benigas 