Beyond Measure

One day the seminary students came to Elisha and told him, "As you can see, our dormitory is too small. Tell us, as our president, whether we can build a new one down beside the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs."

"All right," he told them, "go ahead."

"Please, sir, come with us," someone suggested.

"I will," he said.

When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees; but as one of them was chopping, his axhead fell into the river.

"Oh, sir," he cried, "it was borrowed!"

"Where did it fall?" the prophet asked. The youth showed him the place, and Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water; and the axhead rose to the surface and floated! "Grab it," Elisha said to him; and he did.

2 Kings 6:1-7 (TLB)

Andrew Michael Ardoin lives in Louisiana. Sometimes he doubts that God care about the mundane aspects of his life. Yet at the same time, how Andrew handles the mundane things reveals his character. After all, Jesus commends those who are faithful with small things (see Matt. 25:23).

Andrew works in a research office. A senior professor at the office has a library of reference books and lets Andrew borrow them. One day the book Andrew needed was missing. He felt certain he had returned it when he last used it, but he couldn't be sure. This technical book would be expensive to replace. Then Andrew remembered Elisha and the floating ax head. He recalled the words of scripture, "Alas, master! It was borrowed." Andrew wanted to demonstrate godly stewardship and Christian character in the workplace, so he prayed, "Lord, if I misplaced the book, remind me where I out it. If someone else took the book, may it be returned."

After about 10 days, the book showed up on the professor's desk. Andrew doesn't equate the book's return with a miraculously buoyant ax head, but he is always encouraged by answered prayer.

God's concern for us is beyond measure. We can trust God to bring resolution to any situation, even wen it seems insignificant.