2 Kings 5:6 Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.
Unprecedented times warrant unprecedented solutions. Champions are those who climb over the crisis and don’t let the calamity control them. In the 1880s John Pemberton, a pharmacist sold a syrup made of ‘wine and coca extracts’ called ‘Pemberton’s French Wine Coca,’. This magic medicine was touted as a cure for headaches and nervous disorders. However, in 1885, Atlanta banned the sale of alcohol. Hence, the pharmacist Pemberton tweaked his syrup and created a purely coca-based mixture with carbonated water. This syrup-soda birthed a ‘brain tonic’ called “Coca Cola.” When the going gets tough, the tough get going – Joseph Kennedy. When inundated with unforeseen crisis, look for unconventional resolutions.
Elisha’s disciples were chopping wood by the River Jordan for a building project to build a prayer and healing centre. The axe head of one of the men’s axes was loose hence, it slipped and fell into the river. The man in exasperation petitioned the prophet; “Oh no, my Lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!” (2 Kings 5:5b). Elisha gave a simple solution to the startling situation. Prophet Elisha cut a piece of wood and threw it into the water. The wood reversed the law of density and made the iron float in water. The law of density states that an object that has higher density than water would sink. However, the wood that was thrown into the water increased the density of the water and made the iron float! Metaphorically, the piece of wood is the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. When the cross is brought into the crisis, the intensity of the catastrophe will be reversed.
Unprecedented solutions for unexpected challenges:
- Gravity: Heavier the object the greater the gravitational force. The bigger the problem the stronger the pull to sulk, sink and hide. Stop running away from the problem and rather run to the cross in the midst of an impenetrable calamity for an unconventional solution. Miracles overrule the law of gravity, law of density and the law of motion. When the natural curves in, the supernatural paves in. The cross reverses the gravitational pull to sink and make us float over the problem.
- Penalty: According to the Mosaic law the borrower of the axe head would be liable to repay twice the amount of the loss as penalty (Exodus 21:9). The ban on selling alcohol did not make Pemberton’s business go bankrupt, rather it churned the drug boutique into a multibillion dollar business. Turn the unprecedented challenge into an opportunity to grow. The cross turns the penalty into a vitality.
- Reality: One of the faith drainers during unprecedented times is reality. The more we investigate the possibility, the lower our hearts and hope would drown. There was no way to retrieve the iron that sank into the river. The reality that we face could be a sinking business during the pandemic, deteriorating health or relationship disintegration. Bring the cross into the equation. The density and intensity of the adversity will be reversed. The cross reverses reality into divine destiny.
The cross is the solution to the unprecedented calamity and unforeseen catastrophe.
Deuteronomy 28:13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord … you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
Prayer: Sweet Jesus, Thank you for the cross that reverses the law of gravity, the veracity of the penalty and the susceptibility of the reality. Amen.
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