1119. The Axe Head Restored

The Axe Head Restored

"Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it" (2Ki_6:7).

How blessed it is that the backslider can be restored. Some have an idea that when one has lost out with God, he can never again get back, or, if he does get back, it will be with a curtailed usefulness.

There is a song that was for a while quite popular with soloists. It was called "The Bird with a Broken Wing." The song says:

"I walked through the woodland meadow,

Where sweet, the thrushes sing,

And I found on a bed of mosses,

A bird with a broken wing.

I healed its wing, and each morning

It sang its old sweet strain,

But the bird, with a broken pinion,

Never soared so high again."

The deduction is that the life that sin has stricken, though forgiven, can never reach as high altitudes of service as it knew of yore.

This is not true. Peter after he stumbled and fell into sin, even unto cursing and unto saying, "I know not the Man," became the mighty Apostle of Pentecost.

We grant that a believer when he sins may have a hard time getting back, because of his remorse and because God would chasten him until he knows the heinousness of his sins; but when God forgives He fully restores.

What a wonderful picture is that in Jeremiah 18! Down by the place of the potter was a vessel that was marred. Then what? "And the vessel that he made of clay, was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it."

Shall not Israel, wandering Israel, sinning Israel, be "made over again"? Yes. The Lord will hear her cry and forgive her. And, when she is forgiven, she shall shine forth as the sun, and her glory shall be known all over the world.

Let us remember this, however, that an axe head restored is an axe to be used. Why take the axe head again? Why place it once more on the handle, unless it is to be wielded against the forest? When Peter's wife's mother was healed, she arose and served. That is what all forgiven and restored saints should do. They should get back at once into the place of service.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR