Home » Blog » January 23, 2025 First, Sharpen the Axe
January 23, 2025, First,
Sharpen the Axe
“If the axe is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom brings success (Eccles. 10:10 NKJV).
First, Sharpen Your Axe!
One of my favorite Abraham Lincoln quotes is: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Like Lincoln, over a hundred years earlier, I spent countless hours in my early years, swinging an axe, cutting down trees for haystacks or chopping wood for our wood heaters and kitchen stove. All of our meals were prepared on a wood stove which also had an attached oven for baking–hot biscuits! gingerbread! Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys, etc. Oh my!
I have a scar on my lower right shin to this day from a time one night when I was about 12, and was chopping wood on the woodpile behind our house on Springhill Farm in Enfield, N. C. I swung my axe at a log in the murky darkness and missed. Ouch!!! The only medical attention we could afford for an injury like that, at the time, was what could be provided at home. Mom cleaned the wound with rubbing alcohol, but since it wasn’t stitched, the wide gash in my tight youthful skin remained open. (A duller axe might have done less damage, but that does not support my premise).
Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, and Lincoln were saying essentially the same thing. To get the job done successfully, you must first count the cost and make the necessary preparations. Sharpening the axe is the time that should be spent in prayer before you go into an important meeting, or before you attempt to tackle and bring down the “trees,” the obstacles and structures the enemy has been raising on your job, in your community, or in your home. Sharpening the axe may require communing with God in the wee hours of the morning while others are sleeping.
Swinging at Satan’s “trees” with a dull axe might make a dent, but you will be totally exhausted with little to show for it. Sharpen your axe before you preach a sermon, by praying fervently, fasting sincerely, and studying intensely. Sharpen your axe before you counsel someone, and before you post your ‘wisdom’ on social media, or before you get too far into a brand-new year! Sharpening the axe may mean getting back in school or taking some essential courses, but it always means spending time at the feet of Christ. You can keep swinging with a dull axe until your strength is depleted, but the wisdom of sharpening the axe brings success! Oddly, the permanent little scar on my left shin reminds me of the power of a sharpened axe!
Focus Quote:“But don’t begin until you count the cost” (Luke 14:28a)
COMING SOON! The new book by Alton Sumner, Standing on the Promises!
