There is no forward moment in life that is without setbacks. Any time a person sets his mind to grow, there will be things to come up and challenge that effort. In our text, a young man lost the head of his ax while working to build a new place for the prophets. Something important was lost. It was small, but it's purpose was great. The lost ax head represented the effectiveness of the tool. This situations speaks to that in our life which gives us power. The bible says it was lost. No matter how perfect the handle and the quality of the materials, without the ax head, the handle was worthless. Work literally came to a stop. It was lost in a time of busyness and in the midst of a good work to build a house of God. So it is in life. Many people lose their cutting edge, but the are too proud to acknowledge it. Many people in life will try to make up for this loss by trying to improve what they have left. They try to learn better methods, or they posture themselves in other ways. They however are still ineffective without their cutting edge. The only answer is to get that cutting edge back. Bro. Hughes asks a simple question. Has there ever been a time where we have felt closer to God than now? If the answer to that question is yes, then we may have lost our cutting edge. How can we recover our edge? First we must admit that we have lost it. That is difficult to admit. To be honest about that involves a swallowing of our pride. Recovering the ax head in our story involved returning to where it was lost. It required a tree being lowered into the water. The tree represents the cross of Calvary. The power of the cross can restore what we have lost. It is the key to recovering our cutting edge.
