As I read about Elisha raising Axe heads all I can think is
this: Divination. He is using sorcery. Why else raise an axe head? Then there is a profound incident where Elisha is surrounded by the enemy, but reveals to his servant that there are more for him (in the spiritual realm) than against them.
Have you ever wanted to do miracles and have special abilities and thought, if only I could get closer to God, then I could do magic? Not even in a childish way, but like healing people of cancer, or blindness, or multiply food for famine.
My thought is this: Elisha is a “man of God,” that is what the scripture calls him. But how? Is it because he spends a ton of time with God that God gives Elisha special powers?
This morning I hurried to watch Marc Martel perform on Ellen this morning and therefore lacked in time with God. Regrettably, there are sometimes long stretches where I do not spend much time with God in prayer and thought. In these times I do not feel close to God and often God draws me back to him. So when I made time this morning for God I found Elisha, a man full of the Spirit who knows God’s will. Does God have so much favour on him (even that he can raise an axe head from a river) because Elisha spends time with God?
Here’s where my thought landed: God has a will and a plan and he is acting that will and plan out. The only way to know and be in that plan is to be with God. When I lack in spending time with God and am investing my time in the world, I ignore God without wanting to.
It looks like God simply likes Elisha better than anyone, but I have a peculiar feeling that Elisha spent every moment conversing and aware of God around him. So the answer is “no.” I don’t think God gave Elisha special abilities as a gift because he spent time with Him. But, God was able to work through Elisha because Elisha was in conversation with God.
Today, I have been challenged. I need to spend time with God so can actively participate in the divine. So I can participate in God’s work. If I truly want to be like Elisha, in that I can raise an axe head, I better be listening to God. Maybe he won’t get me to make an axe head float, but I can be sure that I will be blown away by how God will use his servant.
For His Kingdom 