God's Power in the Foolishness of the World

“And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick and threw it in there. And the iron swam.” (2Kings 6:6)

Throughout the books of Kings we read about the sons of the prophets. These were not biological sons, but spiritual young men which helped in various places like Bethel, Jericho and Gilgal in spiritual matters. They were the witnesses to what God was doing during Samuel, Elijah and Elisha’s time. In the previous verses we learn that the sons of the prophets were living with Elisha. They ask permission to build another place in Jordan that would better accommodate them. While they are there cutting down trees, one of the men loses the head of an axe and is distressed because the axe was borrowed. (2Kings 6:1-5)

Then the miracle happens. Why did Elisha cut a stick and throw it in the water? Naturally there is no way to pull the axe head out of the water with a stick. The axe head being heavy was at the bottom of the Jordan River. In the natural it seems absurd that Elisha would cut a stick to get the axe head. The Bible is not specific, but most probably Elisha was being obedient to God. It was his faith in God to raise the axe head if he threw in a stick. What would we have done? It would depend on our faith. Most of us today are so worldly, we would have thought, “No, that’s not God. That’s foolish.” But the Lord uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

Do we have the kind of faith it takes for miracles? We must be willing to ignore the wisdom of the world. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” (1Corinthians 1:27) What if God did tell us to do something so foolish to bring about a miracle?  Would we do it? Probably not because it wouldn’t make sense. Yet this is how God works to astonish the wise of this world. We see a need in the church today to obey God in all things no matter how foolish it looks.

It was Elisha’s faith and obedience that brought the miracle of God raising the heavy axe head from the bottom of the river. The wisdom of God is known in His Word, the Bible. A few examples are: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38) When you give your last penny and have nothing to eat, this would seem like a foolish thing to do. Another example is: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” (Matthew 5:44) It seems foolishness to the world to love and do good to those who hate us. But God’s wisdom is beyond our understanding. Just like the axe floated miraculously to the surface of the Jordan River, a miracle will occur when we’re obedient. One more example is that if something is taken from us, we are to offer the thief more of our belongings. “But I say to you, Do not resist evil. But whoever shall strike you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. And to him desiring to sue you, and to take away your tunic, let him have your coat also. And whoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two.” (Matthew 5:39-41) Our first impulse is to resist evil. But the word resist means to stand against. We are to withstand the evil done to us which is foolishness to the world.

The most important thing that is foolish in the eyes of the world is to preach the Gospel. “For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the perceiving ones." (1Corinthians 1:18-19) This was the greatest display of God’s power in the foolish things of this world. Even today we may hear the unbeliever ask why should he follow a God that died on the cross. But believers know that the death of Jesus on the cross liberated us from the death of our sins.

All this being said, we see that our faith is not up to par with the faith of Elisha. It’s not up to par with what is required for miracles. Many ask why we don’t see miracles today. I think we have the answer.

Let us pray:

Father God, forgive my unbelief and help me to have the kind of faith that Your require of me. Help me to abandon the reasoning of this world and the natural. You are a great and mighty God Who does miracles, but it requires my complete faith in Your Word and in You and obedience in what may seem foolish, but which You use to demonstrate Your greatness and power. Father You use obedient vessels who don’t care about looking or sounding foolish because these vessels know that Your world and Your kingdom don’t operate like this world. Help me Lord to just obey. Help me to love You more than this world and its wisdom. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.